Barker unhappy with rulings

TEAM NEW ZEALAND skipper Dean Barker has labelled the controversial rulings to change the America’s Cup boat design as ‘‘dangerous’’ and ‘‘risky’’.

Team New Zealand asked the International Jury to make a call on the regatta organisers including design changes – mainly around rudder elevators – in the 37 recommendations rushed through under the ‘‘safety’’ banner following the training death in the capsize by challenger Artemis.

TNZ and Italians Luna Rossa argue the design changes can’t be made without a unanimous decision among all syndicates. The crucial jury hearing won’t happen until next Tuesday, a day after TNZ open the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series against Luna Rossa.

It’s another messy episode in the long history of legal wrangles in this event and Barker has used his regular blog for Kiwi Yachting Consultants to voice his displeasure.

‘‘Within the safety recommendations there are two which change the AC72 Class Rule and have absolutely no justification in making the boats or racing safer,’’ writes Barker.

‘‘We are completely opposed to allowing elevators to extend outside of maximum beam and having to be symmetric. Allowing the rudder elevators to extend outside of max beam is incredibly dangerous and introduces serious risk for the crew.

‘‘If a crew member was to fall overboard from either hull while the boat is foiling, there is a much greater chance they would be struck by the longer elevator and this would lead to a serious injury. As the rule is currently written, with the elevators limited to maximum beam, the chance of injury is greatly reduced.

‘‘[And] from day one of sailing our AC72 yachts we have sailed with asymmetric elevators.

‘‘We have now done well over 60 days with these elevators and have never had a structural issue with either rudders or elevators. It is completely unnecessary to impose the re- quirement for the elevators to be symmetric in plan form. There is no logical argument to say that asymmetric elevators are not safe.’’

Barker believes with the recommendations based around the Artemis capsize, the syndicates should be privy to the cause of that tragedy.

‘‘If the regatta director wanted to help with the understanding of safety, I think all teams could benefit with a report on what led to the capsize of Artemis. There has been a lot of speculation as to the cause but there has never been a report so that the other teams can understand potential issues.

‘‘Really it can only be a crew error which resulted in the capsize, or a structural failure, and understanding this would help all teams.’’

In wrapping up his blog, Barker said the AC72 Class Rule ‘‘was not an unsafe rule’’.

‘‘There are choices each team needs to make and these are a balance between performance and safety. You can make an incredibly safe AC72 which would probably have a compromise on performance.

‘‘So the rule encourages a certain amount of risk versus reward.

‘‘The boats are incredibly powerful, complex and amazingly fast. The faster you go the more risk there is. This is the same as with motor racing.

‘‘Imposing real safety measures have greatly reduced the chances of further crew injuries. However, a line needs to be drawn between safety improvements and class rule changes which have no bearing on safety.’’

The late changes infuriated TNZ and Luna Rossa. They favour defenders Oracle who have been having troubles foiling and now have two months of testing and training them while the challengers are in race mode.

In a video entry on the team’s website yesterday, Barker reiterated his frustration: ‘‘It’s hard to believe we are this close to racing and we have to deal with rules issues. But this is the America’s Cup and things like this do happen. We’re staying very positive about it all. We know there will be a resolution, we just have to stay focused on going racing.’’