Ex-Judge Sails Into Dispute Over Cup Race

A retired judge with little interest in sailing may pick the site of the next America’s Cup defense.

The Sail America syndicate and the San Diego Yacht Club have agreed on Charles Froehlich Jr. of Escondido as arbitrator for their dispute over the selection of the defense committee that will choose the venue for 1991, syndicate officials said Monday.

Froehlich is scheduled to conduct hearings June 10, 11, 12, 16 and 19 and then render his decision, which will be binding and not subject to appeal.

Froehlich retired from the state Superior Court bench at Vista in 1980 but maintains a private law practice in San Diego and is affiliated with Alternative to Litigation as an arbitrator. His name was one of two submitted to the yacht club by the syndicate, and the club selected Froehlich.

Doesn’t Have a Sailboat

“I have sailed but I don’t have a sailboat, and I’m not close to the sailing community in San Diego,” Froehlich said Monday.

He said he followed the America’s Cup “about the same as anybody” last winter, “but I don’t really know what the dispute is about.”

The root of the dispute is that Sail America has not indicated where it would prefer to defend the Cup, and club officials suspect that Dennis Conner may favor Hawaii, where his team trained and tested before winning the Cup at Fremantle, Australia, in February. So the club has felt obliged to protect its local interests in choosing the committee members, within the parameters of the agreement it had with Sail America before Conner’s victory.

Sail America, which is based in San Diego but has directors from around the country, objects that the yacht club stacked the committee with seven local members who would consider no site but San Diego, ignoring other, presumably more open-minded, outside nominees submitted by the syndicate.

Sail America spokesman Robert Hopkins said Monday: “We feel that they didn’t respect either the spirit or the letter of the agreement.”

If Froehlich decides that the club acted properly, the selection of San Diego as the site for the races would be virtually a foregone conclusion.

Panel Could Be Restructured

But if Froehlich finds that the club breached the agreement on the selection of committee members, the body could be restructured and the club would be obliged to stage the defense wherever the committee chooses.

Each side has selected a lawyer to argue its case: Ken Poovey for Sail America and Patrick Shea for the club. They are due to submit briefs for Froehlich to study by Friday and will present witnesses at the hearings.

Conner will have departed for the 12-meter world championships at Sardinia, Italy, before the hearings start, but Poovey will present his deposition.

Sail America President Malin Burnham, Poovey said, “will be one of the star witnesses.”

Sail America’s case, Poovey indicated, is that “they do feel strongly there should be national representation on the committee.”

Selecting a site is only the first of the defense committee’s functions, but the club is willing to turn over all other responsibilities to Sail America, acknowledging the syndicate’s expertise.

“Sail America is a fine manager and we feel they’ll do a good job for us,” club Commodore Fred Frye said. “Fortunately, we have a way of settling our disagreements.

“I would hope the committee could then start to work immediately to get some resolution (of the site decision) as soon as possible. We’re losing time.”

Froehlich said: “I try to arrive at a decision very quickly, (sometimes) within hours. I don’t think there’s much law involved in this.”

Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Channel Islands Challenge, representing the Oxnard-Ventura area, has mounted a bid as a possible compromise candidate.

Frye, asked if that proposal was viable, said: “No.”