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Team NZ defuses yacht row
AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Team New Zealand hope to avoid a confrontation with America's Cup organisers after it queried the regatta's yacht rules. The cup holders had highlighted a difference between the America's Cup Protocol and the Louis Vuitton Cup rules regarding which yachts can be used in the Louis Vuitton Cup final. The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup wins the right to challenge Team New Zealand for the America's Cup, beginning in February. Team New Zealand syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg attempted to defuse the situation on Tuesday, saying he did not believe it was necessary for the matter to go to the America's Cup Arbitration Panel. "I think it will be resolved pretty easily," Schnackenberg told reporters. "We look forward to talking to the challengers in a positive frame of mind." Louis Vuitton Cup Regatta Director Dyer Jones said: "I don't see it as a big issue either. Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill." "We intend on running this regatta according to the Louis Vuitton Cup Conditions," he said, conditions which specifically allow the teams to substitute boats between rounds. In a letter to the organisers on Monday, Team New Zealand lawyer Russell Green pointed out the anomaly between the protocol and the Louis Vuitton Cup rules, claiming that the challengers were not allowed to change their yachts between the Louis Vuitton semifinals and finals. Effectively this would prevent the three remaining teams in the regatta from using their alternate boats. The finals are due to start on January 11. The letter was also seen as a move to ambush any attempts by the challengers to copy the so-called "false hull" appendage that is believed to be a secret design weapon on one of Team New Zealand's boats. All parties are agreed that the boat that wins the Louis Vuitton Cup in January has to be the one that is raced against Team New Zealand in February.
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