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Speaking of Pole Position...

Posted 1 year, 3 months ago

Speaking of Pole Position...
...yesterday United Internet Team Germany announced that they are first off the grid on two accounts -- they have signed Karol Jablonski (POL, with a German passport) to skipper for them in AC 33, and that ACC sail number 101, issued earlier this week by Ken McAlpine, is theirs. Apparently UITG are confident they know what the nationality and yacht construction rules will be next time. In the case of yacht construction, presently the Protocol states that any yacht on which construction is commenced prior to the last race of the current AC match counts as an "old yacht," and therefore is not considered to be one of the two new ACC yachts permitted per team under the AC 32 rules. UITG's Michael Scheeren (GER).But that could all change at the whim of the next Defender when they pen the new Protocol. Indeed, there has been talk of limiting AC 33 teams to only one new yacht, especially if the next Match is in 2009. And the defender could also say, for example, that any new yacht not completed by the end of AC 32 shall count as a new yacht. But UITG chief Michael Scheeren is, like all good Germans, a smart and serious man, and presumably has done his homework with both possible AC 33 defenders -- which may give an indication of just what each has in mind, at least to some degree. The two-boat limitation has been the rule since just after the '92 Match, when it was deemed wise by then defender/trustee SDYC, to limit the "arms race" in yacht construction that had taken place for the '92 Cup. For that event Bill Koch's winning America Cubed team built four new ACC yachts, and LVC winner Il Moro Challenge, led by the late Raul Gardini (ITA) and Paul Cayard (USA), built fully five new yachts. Full Story »

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