Australia loses cup protest

Press, 24 September 1980, Page 40

Australia loses cup protest

NZPA Newport Australia swallowed the bitter pill of a loss on protest yesterday, and prepared to savour the sweet taste of success again by defeating Freedom in the fourth race of the 1980 America’s Cup match,

The Australian yacht has already beaten the American defender one in this series, an occurrence with which the Americans are singularly unfamiliar. Losing a race is something they have experienced only seven times before, in the 110 years , of America’s Cup racing. After going down by a narrow 53-second margin on Sunday, a result that put Freedom ahead, 2-1, in the best-of-seven series. Australia protested the outcome of the race, asserting that Freedom violated the racing

.rules by flying her spinnaker off its pole for too long as she rounded the fourth mark. Freedom then filed what her skipper, Dennis Conner, described as: “in essence, a counter-protest.” Freedom alleged that Australia had infringed the very same rule — namely, that she had flown her kite too long off its pole while rounding the third mark. The America’s. Cup International Protest Jury sorted the whole matter out after a hearing of more than four hours: both protests were wiped out, and Freedom’s victory stood.

The Australians didn’t gripe excessively about the outcome. They felt that they were in the right, but they accepted the verdict with determined resignation.