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Design row hits America's Cup

NZL 60: Victorious yacht, now in the middle of a scandal

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- America's Cup challenger OneWorld could be disqualified amid a row over design secrets that has rocked the world of sailing.

The Seattle-based team is accused of breaking competition rules by buying design and construction secrets.

The accusations, denied by OneWorld, are in an affidavit lodged in an American court by former Team New Zealand (TNZ) lawyer Sean Reeves.

The case could take months to settle in the U.S. courts. But an America's Cup arbitration panel meets next month and could impose penalties ranging from fines or even disqualification against teams or individuals.

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In New Zealand, the case has made front page news and is being seen as the biggest scandal to hit the America's Cup in recent times.

The row started in 2000 as members of the victorious TNZ were lured abroad by rival teams.

Skipper Russell Coutts and five key members of the NZL 60 crew left to join Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi challenge.

Another defector was Reeves, who persuaded six more TNZ members, including key design team members Laurie Davidson and Richard Karn, to join Craig McCaw's powerful One World syndicate.

The race rules, called the Protocol, recognise it is not possible to stop the movement of the skills and knowledge of the sailors. But designers are not allowed to transfer plans or data, even though they move from syndicate to syndicate.

Advances in design are crucial for success and the top syndicates spend more than $10 million on testing ahead of the start of qualifiers for the America's Cup in October.

Reeves, who is no longer affiliated to any syndicate, was sued in September 2001 by lawyers for OneWorld for allegedly breaching confidentiality agreements.

Last week Reeves lodged a counter-writ before a court in Seattle for defamation.

In his affidavit, he alleges that OneWorld bought design plans for the yachts NZL 57 and NZ 60, as well as colour photographs of model testing and computer discs with design data.

He says the syndicate also received details of the revolutionary Millennium Rig, which took TNZ three years to develop.

TNZ boss Ross Blackman told New Zealand radio at the weekend that he was deeply disturbed by the potential damage to his syndicate and the number of team members named in the affidavit.

He said all former members of Team New Zealand had signed confidentiality agreements binding for life. "If the allegations prove to be

correct, Team NZ will pursue every possible legal action against any individual involved," he added.

Gary Wright, Chief Executive of OneWorld, said Reeves' allegations would be rigorously defended.

In a press statement on Tuesday, he said: "They are untrue. We remain happy that our future is in the hands of the Arbitration Panel, and that truth, honour and integrity will prevail."

Davidson also denied the allegations on Tuesday. "The work that I sold to OWC (OneWorld) was all my own work done after I left TNZ," he said. "They're Laurie Davidson 2003 boats and they're better than the TNZ boats."

Reeves' affidavit accuses 10 people of breaking the Protocol: Wright, Davidson, designers Phil Kaiko, Ian Mitchell and Richard Karn, engineer Neil Wilkinson, boat builder Peter Smowman, laminate specialist Wayne Smith, and sail designers Michael Spanhake and Robert Hook.