Admiral’s Cup jury re-thinks N.Z. penalty

Press, 3 August 1985, Page 80

Admiral’s Cup jury re-thinks N.Z. penalty

NZPA special correspondent

PETER O’HARA

Cowes New Zealand regained second place over all in the Admiral’s Cup in spite of protest hearings which penalised the leading Kiwi yacht, Canterbury Export. Canterbury Export was at first penalised 60 per cent of her points, but the race jury yesterday halved the points loss to 32.

The New Zealand team of Canterbury Export, Exador and Epic Lass was in second place over all with 480 points, while leaders and defending champions, West Germany, had 520. Denmark, top scorer in Thursday’s race, was third on 472.

The original points deduction had pushed New Zealand out of second place after two of the five series races and into third behind Denmark.

The race headquarters at

Cowes, Isle of Wight, said the jury had reconsidered and decided two protests against Canterbury Export should be treated as one incident. The Roy Dicksonskippered boat barged in at a leeward mark and collided with Brazil’s Saga, then interfered with Portugal’s Al Gharbe. New Zealand had to fight back to retain their leading place in the 18-nation, 54yacht, fleet. They started the second race badly, choosing a windward leg route which left them well back.

Exador, winner of the first race on Wednesday, was thirty-seventh on the water with Epic Lass fortyninth and Canterbury Export fiftieth after the first beat into a light variable westerly breeze over the 30mile inshore course. Downwind on the Solent and for the rest of the race

the New Zealanders improved steadily. Exador, skippered by Graeme Woodroffe, was thirteenth and Wellington’s Peter Walker helmed Epic Lass to seventeenth place. The Canterbury Export skipper, Dickson, told NZPA: “We thought we had gone the right way on the first beat but were very lucky to get back in the race.”

The all-Californian United States team, who finished sixteenth over-all in the first race, were cheered up when High Roler won, assisting them to eleveenth in the standings.

The Danish yacht Euro was second for the second day running in spite of going aground for several minutes at one point. The first offshore battle in the series, the 212-mile Channel race, began yesterday.