Olympic Games 1996

UPDATE....

20 JULY 1996 - 2

OLYMPIC MEASUREMENT FOR YACHTING - THE LATEST ON THE DANISH SOLING

This non-compliance with the rules by the Danish Soling was considered by the Olympic Regatta Measurement Committee (ORMC), who made a recommendation to the International Jury (IJ). At a meeting at 12:00 hours today, the International Jury received the Measurement Committee's report and the Jury concluded that there was no evidence of any alteration in the area of the hull in question subsequent to manufacture by the Licensed Builder of the boat.

Olympic Regatta Measurement Regulation 2.10 sets out the procedure to be followed in such an incident:

"when a measurement is found to vary from that prescribed by the class rules during the pre-race measurement, the class measurer will complete a form describing the variation. this form shall be handed to the team manager or authorised crew member, who will then be responsible for having the necessary alteration made. the yacht may then be re-submitted to the measurer for measurement at a time arranged trhough the measurement co-ordinator. if a boat is found to have measurement defecs which cannot be corrected prior to the close of measurement, that competitor will not be permitted to enter the boat. on the recommendation of the ormc, the international jury may permit the competitor to enter a second boat selected at random by the ormc (from a pool of available boats, however there shall be no guarantee that such a pool will be available)."

The facts found by the International Jury were:

1. The yacht in question had a valid measurement certificate which was issued after the boat had been cored.

2. The skipper of the boat had no influence in the construction of the boat as the boat had been built for someone else.

3. There have been no alterations to the boat's laminate since construction.

After consideration, the International Jury concluded that:

"the international jury is satisfied that neither the team management nor crew knew or could have know about the defect in the course of maintaining the yacht in accordance with her class rules. therefore, the international jury accepts the recommendation of the measurement committee and grants permission to denmark to enter a second boat selected at random from the pool."

Several countries had offered their team's second Soling Keelboat to the pool. The Soling keelboat selected at random was the Spanish team's second Soling. Relieved at the outcome, the Danes are now busy tuning the Spanish boat in preparation for tomorrow's official practise race.