Bowsprit Ruling Ushers in Third Round

In France they say oui oui, and in Spain they say si si --except when the subject is le bout dehors or el botalon : the bowsprit.

New Zealand’s 39-inch appendage has become a dirty word in any language around the America’s Cup, leaving officials with a problem far out of proportion to the importance of the device as the third round of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger trials starts today, with the Kiwis (13-1) on top.

How much the voodoo that they do so well has to do with the bowsprit is questionable, but they won’t be able to do it indefinitely--maybe not even today.

The challengers’ jury, which earlier approved the way New Zealand uses its bowsprit, realized Thursday it would have to change when the separate jury for the final match in May offered a conflicting interpretation.

But that interpretation, requested by the defenders Feb. 3, was so long in coming--two days before the third round--that officials had to decide whether to change the rule only hours before New Zealand was to meet Ville de Paris today, leaving the Kiwis little time to adjust, or to allow them to continue in the illegal mode until the next, semifinal round.

“The worst scenario is if we jibe and get red-flagged and thrown out for something we’ve never practiced,” New Zealand skipper Rod Davis said.

“What we have is the competitors without bowsprits trying to stir the pot up as hard as they can to make life difficult for us. If they think they’re gonna rattle us, they’re dead wrong.”

Peter Blake, general manager of the syndicate, put it another way: “Whenever you see someone rising above the pack . . . the Americans just seem to go for that person in a generally unsportsmanlike fashion.”

Blake’s shot was aimed at the America’s Cup Organizing Committee, a popular target for Cup critics. The ACOC, after consulting with the challengers, appointed the five-man match jury.

However, the match jury is composed of a Swede, chairman Goran Petersson; a Canadian, an Englishman and residents of Malta and Hong Kong--not a Yank in the lot.

The challengers’ jury chairman is Graeme Owens of Australia, a New Zealand neighbor, and Blake said, “Graeme Owens is really wishy-washy. He’s not standing up for us at all.”

Owens’ jury was not overruled by the Cup jury, which has no jurisdiction over the challengers’ trials. But the challengers want to get their rules in line as soon as possible so their ultimate representative won’t have to adjust too late.

New Zealand opens the round today against Ville de Paris (9-5), which is fighting Espana ’92 (5-9) and Spirit of Australia (5-9) for the fourth and last semifinal spot. With victories now worth eight points, instead of one and four in the first two rounds, a single race can mean a major gain or loss.

How much difference the bowsprit makes nobody is prepared to say, but Ville de Paris lost its second-round match to New Zealand by only eight seconds.

French skipper Marc Pajot said, “Now there is a new interpretation, so the jury has to meet again and decide what the rule (will be).”

There was the possibility that an 11th-hour decision could go against New Zealand.

Blake said, “If that is the ruling we’ll go with it, but not in 24 hours. I don’t think that’s fair. I think you’d have to trust that common sense and fairness will prevail.”

Another rival, Paul Cayard of Il Moro di Venezia (11-3), said, “For the professionalism of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the 56 points that have to be played (in the third round) and the two or three guys that are on the border, we owe it to them and the event to get the thing racing by the right rules.

“We’re asking a little of the Kiwis because they’ve had a ruling that said it was OK, and now we’re saying it’s not. But I never believed it was OK.

“Just not using it while jibing, hoisting or dousing (lowering sails) is not gonna affect them at all for getting into the semifinals. They’re very good sailors. Their other three boats don’t have (a bowsprit), so it’s not anything foreign to ‘em.”

Blake said, “They’re trying to put us off our stride. The America’s Cup is not gonna be won or lost over a bowsprit issue. They think we’re gonna get sidetracked. In fact, they’re doing us a favor. We’re more determined.”