Has Bertarelli Lost it?
by Jake on Feb.25, 2008, under America's Cup
Not much has happened on the America’s Cup scene in the last couple of weeks. However, as reported on the Rule 69 Blog (which is appropriate), Bertarelli has made another questionable maneuver by convincing the local ID35 catamaran class to ban Russell Coutts from competing. Russell was at the helm of the winning 2006 championship boat – the Alinghi sponsored catamaran won it the following year 2007. Also recall that Bertarelli also made a legal manuever to have Russell banned from competition in this past America’s Cup once Russell choose to leave Alinghi after a fall out over the parameters of the last competition. Apparently there was going to be some Larry Ellison / Oracle backing for this years ID35 series and though I’ve looked, I haven’t found any justification for the exclusion. Because Russell makes a living by sailing, there could be some legal implications by an unfounded exclusion from an event like this.
When you piece together some of the seemingly less significant past events, like Coutts being excluded from the last AC, with current things that Bertarelli has done, I’m seeing a nasty self portrait of a man who is not very grounded in self awareness or sportsmanship. Hopefully someone will put a stop to the madness soon. Either setup the match that will eventually happen with or without your consent or let go of the Cup Ernesto!
