The Kiwis Waltz into Louis Vuitton Finals
In Monday’s ‘Lectronic we mistakenly reported that Emirates Team New Zealand, having given the Luna Rossa Italian team a big spanking on Sunday, had gained a spot in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Finals. We jumped the gun, as the Kiwi team didn’t achieve that until yesterday’s thrashing of the hapless Italians.
Luna Rossa got off to a literally rocky start when they doinked their port rudder upon launching their cat at low tide, requiring the rudder be pulled from the boat, taken ashore for repairs, and put back in the boat. The Italians said their boat was 100% read for the start.
Unfortunately, the Italian crew was not 100% ready for the start, as they were 15 seconds late — about a half-hour late in monohull time — getting onto the course. And when they did, the superior Kiwi team gave them their biggest shellacking in three meetings, with a delta of seven minutes.
In the final humiliation, the Italians were given a DNF because they finished so far — five minutes — behind the Kiwis.
This was not a good race for the Italians. This was not a good race for the 34th America’s Cup. We doubt the Kiwis, who said they’ll sail the next two races even though they don’t have to, took much joy from it either.
In more exciting America’s Cup news, if the African Diaspora Maritime sailing team — such as it is — gets a favorable ruling in a legal action in New York City today, there may not be an America’s Cup Final starting on September 7.
“I want justice!” says Charles Kithcart, a 48-year-old former San Franciscan who is now a North Carolina resident and head of the North Carolina-based ‘team’.
After the Golden Gate YC rejected the ADM’s application to compete to be a Defender for the 34th Cup — our understanding is that ADM couldn’t come up with the $25,000 entry fee — ADM sued. Their claim is that had their application been accepted, they could have mobilized $100 million in support from wealthy African Americans anxious to get into the sport. Kithcart argues that the $100 million wasn’t going to start pouring in until after the ADM entry was accepted by the yacht club. Oprah, Jay Z, Michael Jordan, P Diddy and other wealthy African Americans have yet to comment on whether they would have supported Kithcart’s effort.
“There is no merit to the case,” responded Philip Bowman, attorney for the Golden Gate YC.
To the best of Latitude’s knowledge, the ADM doesn’t have a boat, a regular crew that competes in races, or much start-up money. Which is not to say that a legitimate African American entry wouldn’t have injected a little color into this America’s Cup. After all, look what Cool Runnings did for Olympic bobsledding.
ERRATA RE ABOVE: AFRICA DIASPORA MARITIME
In the above article, posted on July 24 we reported that a lawsuit brought by African Disapora Martime against the Golden Gate YC was being heard in New York City. The North Carolina organization claims that the Golden Gate YC illegally refused their application to be allowed to compete against Oracle to be the Defender in the 34th America’s Cup.
In our report we said that the ADM had not been able to come up with the initial $25,000 deposit needed to compete. This was incorrect. The ADM in fact did present the Golden Gate YC with a draft for $25,000, but were still denied entry because the yacht club didn’t believe ADM had the wherewithal to field a competitive entry. We sincerely apologize for the error. Indeed, we had previously reported the facts correctly.
As we wrote on Wednesday, we’re all in favor of a legitimate African-American America’s Cup team. Indeed, we’re in favor of every kind of legitimate America’s Cup team. We’ll leave it up to the courts to decide whether ADM would have been a legitimate entry.