Ericsson 3 to face two protests

Monday 5 January, 2009 02:20 GMT

On Thursday this week, Ericsson 3 will have to answer two protests stemming from leg three into Singapore.

In the first, Telefonica Blue has protested the team for an incident where the Spanish team alleges the Nordic crew infringed Rule 10 of the Racing Rules of Sailing - the 'starboard-port' or opposite tack rule.

The Telefonica Blue protest form describes the incident:

"1. 21 December 2008, approx 1800 UTC (0200 local time - UTC+8) at the
location 03 11.158N 101 00.033E (1 Fathom Bank).

"2. Telefonica Azul on starboard tack, VMG running. Ericsson 3 on port tack
on a converging course.

"3. When boats less than 1 boat length apart, Telefonica Azul bore away in
order to avoid contact with Ericsson 3.

"4. Soon after Telefonica Azul bore away, Ericsson 3 crash gybed from port
tack onto starboard tack."

The second protest is from the Race Committee. From the protest form:

"From evidence supplied by Ericsson 3...the Race Committe believes that Ericsson 3 did not round the Sri Lanka 1 mark on the southern side as required in Leg Addendum 3."

This refers to the first of two marks that defined an exclusion zone to the south of Sri Lanka. The fleet was required to stay to the south of a line defined by the two points.

The first protest is scheduled to be heard at 10:00 local time in Singapore on Thursday. The second protest will heard following the conclusion of the first.