Pár nappal a rajt előtt a Ruddergate néven elhíresült ügy uralja az AC világát.
Valószínűleg a 34. America’s Cup legjelentősebb eseménye az a július 8-ai óvás, melyen a Luna Rossa és az ETNZ megy szembe a biztonsági intézkedésnek álcázott kierőszakolt kormányváltással. Mert ez befolyásolja, hogy az ORACLE stabilan vagy bukdácsolva repül-e a víz felett (ami súlyos sebességhátrányt jelenthet). Az eredeti, mindenki által elfogadott szabályok alapján majdnem biztos, hogy az ORACLE jelenleg hátrányban van.
Az eddig látottak alapján július 7-én valószínűleg az ETNZ leveri a Luna Rossát, mint vak a poharat. 8-án óvás, utána meg egyedül keringenek a csapatok pályán, mert az Artemis nem áll ki, de az ETNZ-nek és a Luna Rossának a pontért körbe kell érnie. Emiatt is az óvás tűnik a legizgibbnek.
És tulajdonképpen már mindeki ezen pörög. Az ETNZ okos kommunikációval élt az elmúlt napokban (
SailRacingMagazine
) és azzal támadta vissza Iain Murray versenyigazgatót, hogy a kormánylapon eszközölendő változtatások nem biztonsági intézkedések, hanem kifejezetten veszélynövelő tényezők, ugyanis a bevezetni kívánt szimmetrikus kormányszárnylapátok annyira kilógnának a hajó síkjától oldalra, hogy vízbeesés esetén konkrétan simán kettészelheti a vízbe esett palit.
Az ORACLE-nek minden szabályra van egy szárnya.
© ORACLE TEAM USA / Photo: Guilain GRENIER
Egy másik „biztonsági szabály”, hogy elég, ha a kormány a hajó farától csak 85 cm-re van, míg eredetileg 1 méterre tervezték azokat (részben azért, hogy a hajó fara ütközőzónaként szolgálhasson anélkül, hogy a kormány sérülne). És van egy hajó, amely eddig az eredeti szabályokat mellőzve tesztelt, nagyjából az új szabályoknak megfelelően. Jéééé.
A Luna Rossa skippere Max Sirena sem rejtette véka alá a véleményét a
Repubblica.IT
-nek adott interjújában, ezt alább közöljük angolul (a SailingAnarchy fordításának hála). Ha kérdés van, arra szívesen válaszolunk 🙂
“Profiteering! That’s what it is. Nothing else. Sorry to say because sailing is my life, my world, my sport. But we cannot continue to pretend that this is the America’s Cup of gentlemen, of fair play. It is not true at all. Oracle and Artemis are doing something illegal, shameful, and they are doing it by exploiting the death of ‘Bart’ Simpson, a sailor, a friend. And I am fed up of accepting everything in silence .”
Luna Rossa’s skipper, Max Sirena, is beside himself. Under the cloak of the usual silence that preceds the battle, incredible things are happening in offices that overlook the bay of San Francisco. And the man most representative of the Italian expedition in the Coppa America has decided not to remain silent anymore. To name names and surnames. Here they are: Paul Cayard, Russell Coutts, Artemis, Oracle: They are the jackals. The question is simple. On the eve of the America’s Cup Cup, Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand – the only two credible challengers to the Cup held by the Americans Oracle – have succeeded in three years of work to make fly their catamarans (called foiling, the boat is five feet from the water “supported” only by the centerboard, and it is much faster).
Oracle and the Swedes Artemis instead had judged it impossible to do from the beginning. So when they realized to be left behind, they began a frantic recovery. Now Oracle is able to “fly” but not in a stable manner, needing to change the rudders in order to stabilize. The only problem is that you can not do that. To modify rudders as they want them, you have to change measurements rules. As if we were made to build a car with engine capacity 2000 and now a week before the race they want to run with a 2200. But the worst thing is that they want to pass this regulatory modification as a decision for reasons of safety. “
They are not for safety? “No there are not. They continue to use the term safety for changes that are only needed by them, and only for the performance.”
They are Oracle and Artemis?
“Well, there are four teams. We and Team New Zealand protested…. “
The rule amending the rudders is contained in the notice of race issued by the Director Ian Murray and on the basis of which the U.S. Coast Guard has given the go ahead.
” It ‘s clear that no one has evidence that behind this is the hand of Oracle. But Murray has no authority to change the rules of tonnage. For those it takes unanimity. Which there is not. “
The truth is that Oracle is in trouble …
“I am sure that in the end they will be very competitive. Now yes, they are a little back.”
The charge of profiteering is a serious charge .
“I know, I’m sorry. But it is so. They tell us that we are unsporting, a myth of sailing, Iain Percy (skipper of Artemis) has told that and it hurt me a lot. Actually it is them who are exploiting the incident of Artemis (the one in which on May 9 the sailor champion Olympic Andrew “Bart” Simpson lost his life, ed) to obtain advantages in water. By the way, Simpson died because he was unlucky, not because the class is wrong. The catamaran rolled over, anything can happen and will happen again. “
This does not cancel that there is a safety issue.
“And you say it to me? Of course it exists. I have been saying that since long before the accident. It was more than a year that I insisted with Murrey, with Coutts, Paul Cayard and they laughed in my face. Reduce wind limits – I said – enhance helmets, oxygen tanks, put straps on the hulls to held to in the event of capsize, prohibit the guest on board. They insisted, deaf. “
Until someone ended up dead.
“That, again, it was an accident. Anyway, it was right to intervene. They proposed 37 points to improve security: 35 were shared, while two were only needed to help Oracle and Artemis to regain lost ground . With New Zealand we have proposed: let’s pass now the 35 and we think about the other two. Cayard said, no, all or nothing. So I threatened to publish the response in the media. So you could tell who was trying to work for the safety and who for themselves. And we managed to have the 35 points passed. “
Then came the notice of Murray.
“Against which we did protest.”
It will be discussed on the eight of July. If they rule against you, up to what point are you willing to go?
“We may refuse to get in the water. It is a decision which may be taken only with the consent of Patrizio Bertelli, of course. But it is a matter of principle. Coppa America is a great game but also in games there are values to be respected.”