Interview
Getting Tossed
Following
last week disqualification of JoeFly in the last race of the Farr40 Worlds
Championship, and consequently the World title given to Mascalzone Latino,
Sebastien Destremau interviewed Giovanni Maspero from JoeFly
SD: Giovanni, your Open letter released late last week has created
a bit of an uproar in the sailing community. I understand you are very
upset about losing the World Championships however can you talk us through
the situation as you saw it in Miami?
GM: Although we recognize that our tack was close, it was not too
close. This situation should never ended up with our disqualification.
We believe we were in our rights and this was confirmed by several facts:
1: Barking Mad did not protest. They hailed for it after.
2: Two boats from the jury were in the vicinity of the mark and they never
blew their whistles,
3: The tactician of Barking Mad (Terry Hutchinson) told us during our
spinnaker hoist that should Mascalzone Latino decide to protest they would
do the same,
4: We learned a couple of minutes after the finishing line that Mascalzone
Latino was lodging a protest against us,
5: Back to the shore, Mascalzone Latino’s crew were clapping to congratulate
us whilst their tactician jumped on their support boat and went to the
jury.
By the way, I was a bit disappointed to see that Vincenzo Onorato (owner
of Mascalzone Latino), did not come to me to mention and talk about the
fact that he was lodging a protest against us. But I can also understand
the atmosphere of nervousness of those moments.
SD: So you learned that you had a protest against you and you sent
your tactician Francesco Bruni to the protest room. What happened there?
GM: Francesco was very nervous about the fact that three members of
the jury had close ties with Mascalzone Latino’s tactician John Kostecki.
Two of them are current members of the BMW Oracle team for the 33rd America’s
Cup (one of which was the chairman: Tom Ehman) and a third was employed
by the same team a few years back. It is also common knowledge that Vincenzo
Onorato is a big supporter of BMW Oracle in their legal battle against
Alinghi.
The Alinghi Team, before the start of these Worlds, had officially asked
the Farr40 class top management to change the jury members composition
'cause of the risks due to conflict of interests. As we know they did
not make any changes.
SD: Sorry Giovanni but you are not a newcomer in this game. Knowing
this, you had every rights to voice your concerns before the hearing and
eventually ask some members of the jury to be removed. I understand you
didn’t do that. Why?
GM: I know it was a bad mistake. We are a bit naïve and let me
tell you that I deeply regret not having done just that but it is not
in Joe Fly Sailing Team philosophy to do so. We try to obey by the rules
and we think the game should be fair however in Miami it was not.
SD: What are your options now?
GM: We cannot appeal the jury’s decision and we accepted that,
so the result will stand. The point is that this situation should never
have occurred as it is a blatant conflict of interest. In view of the
numerous comments I’ve read in various international blogs containing
criticism of myself and my Team, I believe it will be useful to make a
simple statement to submit to the ISAF, limiting myself to relating the
facts. What I want to underline is that a lot of people have called our
Team arrogant and said that it acted unfairly throughout the World Championship,
whereas the Team is in fact well known for its fair-play and for the commitment
and professionalism with which it has raced for years and in various classes.This
is demonstrated by the countless e-mails and phone calls we’ve received
in the last few hours from Italian and non-Italian yachting people thanking
us for what we’ve done for the sport.
The statement for the ISAF doesn’t presume to exert pressure to have
the jury’s decision changed. We have already acknowledged on a number
of occasions that Mascalzone Latino won the Worlds and is officially the
2008 Farr40 World Champion. Disqualifications are part of the game but
in the future we’d like to be judged on our errors by juries that
are not only made up of decent and authoritative people like those who
judged us in Miami but who are also equally distanced from the teams involved
and without any conflict of interest.
SD: By taking this course of action, aren’t you going to upset
a few people along the way?
GM: I already have. My mail box is full of people asking me to stop
"jumping up and down". I am even threaten to not be welcomed
in the Farr 40 class anymore and I would not be surprised if the management
of the Farr 40 class association takes the decision to forbid me from
competing in the future. If that’s a consequence of my actions then
so be it.
SD: You are obviously a very upset boat owner. I noted on your
sailing calendar that you are planning to compete in several Farr 40 regattas
in the next couple of months. Are you going to compete in them?
GM: To be honest with you, I am not sure at all. We have a meeting
next week with my crew and it will be a team decision. I don’t want
to be the only to decide for these guys that have made so many sacrifices
to get up there.
SD: One final question. Will you be competing again in an event
should Tom Ehman be the chairman of the jury?
GM: (laugh) I am not going to answer that so … No comment !
SD: Giovanni thank you for taking the time to talk to us and best
of luck in your next regatta.
Sebastien Destremau 2008-04-29 Share this article: Perma Link 
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