Permission Denied

When the +39 Challenge lost their rig in the second day of ACT 13 last week, the noise of the mast breaking was nearly simultaneous with the sound of their balloon popping. For a team that has so much talent but so little money, they had been walking a tight-rope for months, and it now appears that they have fallen off as they approached the weather mark on that breezy Wednesday afternoon. When United Internet Team Germany misjudged their port/ starboard duck with +39 - and their rigs clipped - it led to the destruction of the Italians only competitive mast.

Following the foul, the Germans have done everything possible to right their wrong, including the gift of a replacement mast to the +39 team. When masts cost more than a half million dollars, and take months to build to the very custom standards of each team, this gift was the only means to keep +39 on pace with the field. However, true to the rules of the Cup, this was a breach of the Protocol that requires all equipment to be designed by the team. Changes of the Protocol occur all the time, and to get +39 back on the start line, a Protocol change would be required.

However, when the Challenger Commission met this past weekend to decide on this change, the graciousness that had been implied prior to the meeting whistled clear nearly as fast as the breaking of the mast. Self-interest won out on this day, and with the Protocol change denied, the group found a way to narrow the field of challengers from eleven to ten even before the first race of the Louis Vuitton challenger series. The +39 Challenge will step an old, out-dated mast in the boat for the beginning of the trials - the one that helmsman Iain Percy claimed to be half the speed of the mast they broke - and will attempt to repair their fractured spar. And for those of you following the action, the America’s Cup has officially begun.