The French team in the America’s Cup World Series says it “will be responding shortly” to a $200,000 salvage claim filed by a man who recovered their 45-foot catamaran after it parted from its mooring at a San Francisco pier and drifted away, invoking maritime law dating from the 1800s.<\/p>\n
An attorney representing the team and their AC45, Energy, says he is carefully gathering evidence to make his case against the claim filed on behalf of Todd Tholke, a liveaboard and Bay area musician.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the people in the boating community and the people in the Bay Area, who are very generous and neighborly, it\u2019s just a big black eye,\u201d Energy team attorney Noah Hagey told Soundings.<\/p>\n
A San Francisco-based lawyer and sailor who has worked with the French team, though not on this issue, says the group won\u2019t be able to participate in next year\u2019s America\u2019s Cup regatta because it lacks the sponsorship required to build the new 72-foot catamarans being used in the 2013 competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why they\u2019re not here next year. They don\u2019t have a sponsor,\u201d Jean-Yves Lendormy told Soundings . \u201cThis year they only had one sponsor, you can see that on their sail, and it\u2019s a little sponsor. It is a Swiss watchmaker. It\u2019s not like the British team with J.P. Morgan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lendormy said he had worked with the French team on a fundraiser they held that was designed to raise money to help youths who might not otherwise be exposed to sailing to participate in the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States has this reputation for being a very litigious country, and here you have this wonderful event in the America\u2019s Cup World Series that\u2019s possible for even a team with modest means to participate, like the French team, and everyone is absolutely wonderful,\u201d Lendormy said. \u201cAnd all of a sudden it\u2019s marred by the acts of one person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if the team is strapped for cash, the vessel\u2019s insurance provider should pay the salvage claim, says\u00a0Tholke attorney John Edgcomb.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine an America\u2019s Cup racing team is \u2018broke\u2019, but it\u2019s irrelevant because they should have insurance,\u201d Edgcomb says.<\/p>\n