http://www.boatinternational.com | April 2016ON BOARD
PHOTOGRAPH: ALEX PALMER/LAND ROVER BARW
e capsized our second testing boat,
T2, just before Christmas. There
were plenty of people in support
boats and no one was hurt, and we were also
“fortunate” enough to have an extra pair of
hands and an extra boat available to help us.
It was driven by Dog – aka Andrew Palfrey.
Dog lives on the Isle of Wight but works
for our America’s Cup rivals Oracle Team
USA (OTUSA). Dog follows us everywhere,
sometimes with his mates from yet another
competitor, Artemis Racing, for company.
While we appreciated Dog’s help, we’d rather
he hadn’t been tagging along. But
some spying – or reconnaissance,
to use the polite phrase – is allowed
by America’s Cup rules.
The Cup is a technology and
design contest, and there’s always
been a premium on knowledge about
the opposition. The first America’s
Cup boat to be launched from under
a shroud was Thistle in 1887.
The drive for secrecy began in
the modern era with Australia II and
her winged keel in 1983. She was
kept under wraps right through the Cup, until
Alan Bond ordered the “skirt” to be dropped
during celebrations after the final race. A few
people already had a good idea of what was
underneath – at least one team had used a diver
to swim under the skirt at night; they were
chased out by security guards. But revealing
the full design allowed everyone to start their
own detailed work on winged keels, and this
was one of the reasons why Australia couldn’t
hold on to the Cup in 1987.
Things really got out of hand during
the 1992 Cup; helicopter and underwater
surveillance became normal. Rules were
put in place but teams still played at being
James Bond. Eventually, the Cup community
realised that all the secrecy wasn’t helping
people to understand or enjoy the event. It was
also expensive and time-consuming to put
a skirt around a boat every time it was out
of the water.
This hasn’t prevented recent controversy.
According to a rule introduced in the 1990s,
spy boats can’t come within 200 metres
of an opponent’s boat. In the last Cup in
San Francisco, OTUSA was taken to task
by Luna Rossa for infringing it. Their
punishment: a five-day practice ban. Given
the potential value of such information, that
seems pretty weak. In 2009 Alinghi claimed
in papers filed in a New York court that
OTUSA had hired people to take photos
illegally at their base. There was no Protocol in
force for the 2010 Cup, the only prohibitions
were local laws. The police investigated and no
charges were filed.Perhaps it was as a result of these
experiences that OTUSA’s current
Protocol weakened the limitations
on reconnaissance. Eavesdropping
devices, electronic surveillance,
hacking; satellite, drone and aerial
photography are banned – but the
200 metres prohibition was removed. There’s
a lot that you can do with long lenses.
After the America’s Cup World Series event
in Bermuda last October I did some recon
on OTUSA in their turbo testing boats. It
is amazing how much you can pick up tracking
these boats at close range, but OTUSA weren’t
too happy having one of their opponents that
close. So back in January the regatta director,
Iain Murray, issued a notice requiring
a “gentleman’s agreement” that recon boats
keep more than 150 metres from their targets.
I think it’s the right call and in fact we opposed
the initial removal of the 200 metres limit.
Meanwhile, we were out sailing on T2
again in February. It was no surprise to see
OTUSA back out there with us – Dog faithfully
following us around. BSpy games
Espionage has always been a part of
America’s Cup sailing. But, as Sir Ben Ainslie
reveals, it can sometimes be useful to be
followed round by one of your rival teams18