SAN FRANCISCO — Sunday was supposed to be when the controversy and tragedy that have surrounded the 34th America's Cup regatta would finally give way to a breathtaking spectacle of 72-foot catamarans racing around San Francisco Bay, barely touching the water, at speeds once unheard of in sailing. However, in keeping with an event where little has gone as planned, the skipper of Italian competitor Luna Rossa Challenge said Friday that — as a matter of principle — his team may not show up for the match with Emirates Team New Zealand that was supposed to kick off the summer of racing. “We're here to race, but with fair rules,” declared Max Sirena, the Luna Rossa captain. Bickering over the rules is an America's Cup tradition. Both Luna Rossa, backed by Prada fashion mogul Patrizio Bertelli, and New Zealand have objected to boat design changes that were put in place in the wake of a May accident that killed British Olympic sailor and Artemis Racing crew member Andrew Simpson. An international jury is considering the arguments, but a formal hearing was not scheduled until Monday. Cancellation of the opening race of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the winner of which will face off against Oracle Team USA for the America's Cup, may ultimately have little impact on the competition. Still, it would be a symbol of how Oracle Corp software mogul Larry Ellison's ambitious effort to re-shape what critics deride as a rich man's yacht race has gone awry. Russell Coutts, a New Zealander who led his nation's successful America's Cup campaign a decade ago before defecting to head Ellison's Oracle racing team, had some choice words for the protesting Italian team. “It's a bunch of spoiled little rich kids dressed in Prada gear,” he said.— Reuters
