As Gold Medalist Found Out, More Coverage Is Mixed Blessing for Sailing

Ben Ainslie of Britain is on the cusp of becoming among the most decorated Olympic sailors ever. A victory in his Finn dinghy on his home waters of Weymouth at this summer’s Olympics would give him four consecutive gold medals, tying the sailing record of Paul Elvstrom of Denmark. So successful was Ainslie that there was speculation he could lead the British delegation at the opening ceremony in London. One thing could have stopped Ainslie, the clear favorite: his temper. At the Finn world championships in December in Perth, Australia, Ainslie was disqualified from two races after an altercation with a media motorboat driver and a cameraman. The penalty cost him a sixth world title. He was cited under the sport’s Rule 69, a sportsmanship violation akin to receiving a red card in soccer. The penalty led to reviews and investigations by governing bodies in Australia and Britain and by the International Sailing Federation. Britain’s Royal Yachting Association and sailing federation had the power to suspend his eligibility for the Olympics. All eventually cleared the way for Ainslie, 35, to continue his Olympic quest, with the International Sailing Federation announcing its decision last month. But the incident in Australia brought into focus the sport’s relationship with television coverage, which it desperately needs but which sailors have struggled to adapt to. From the current Volvo Ocean race to the America’s Cup and Olympics, sailors’ every move and sound are now being recorded. NBC recently acquired the rights for next year’s America’s Cup, which will be the first one broadcast on network television since 1992. “Sailors are not used to playing their game under the spotlight,” said Gary Jobson, the president of U.S. Sailing and an ESPN and NBC commentator. “Sailors have a long history of salt-and-pepper language. If sailors as a whole want media coverage, they have to be accepting.” Ainslie, having just started his own America’s Cup team, said that the use of helicopters and motorboats to capture the racing was important for the future of the sport, but that “there just has to be clear boundaries and a mutual agreement between the sailors and the media.” According to several international judges, verbal and even physical altercations between sailors in races are not unusual. But the fight between Ainslie and the camera boat at the 2011 world championships was. In the ninth race of the 11-race series, Ainslie was straining as he rocked his boat and pumped the sail rapidly while trying to overtake Pieter-Jan Postma in first place. On the final leg, a camera boat, broadcasting the racing live, weaved in front of him to get a close-up of Postma, and possibly slowed Ainslie’s boat with its wake. Inspection of images of the incident and reports by witnesses revealed that after finishing second in the race, Ainslie raced to the camera boat, jumped aboard, grabbed the driver and shouted at him. He then moved to the cameraman, lifted him, and yelled at him before pushing past and diving into the water to retrieve his boat. In sailing, misconduct is dealt with by the broadly written Rule 69 under the international Racing Rules of Sailing, which deals with competitors accused of “gross breach of a rule, good manners or sportsmanship,” or who “may have brought the sport into disrepute.” Standard rules infractions between boats are handled through written protests by competitors, and are heard by a committee or jury off the water. Rule 69 violations result in penalties given to individuals, not boats, in a regatta. Juries are not required to act on a Rule 69 report, but can initiate a hearing themselves. On shore, Ainslie and the camera crew apologized to each other. According to the event manager in Perth, John Longley, the media boat violated race guidelines for support boats. But the international jury at the championship held a hearing and decided that Ainslie committed “gross misconduct.” The jury disqualified him from Race 9 and the subsequent Race 10, in effect ending his run at the title.