Stephens: OneWorld Unduly Penalised
12/12/2002
louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com
The dean of America's Cup yacht design notes there are many issues to address for the good of the event.
Olin J. Stephens designed six Cup winners between 1937 and 1980.
Olin J. Stephens II is sometimes referred to as the dean of America’s Cup yacht design, a title to which he is undoubtedly entitled. With six Cup-winning designs to his credit, no other living designer has credentials that come close.
Starting with the J-boat Ranger, which he drew in partnership with Starling Burgess, his New York design firm Sparkman & Stephens dominated the 12-Metre period with such famous names as Columbia, Constellation, Intrepid, Courageous and Freedom.
The 93-year-old Stephens is a proponent of tightening the nationality rules for the America’s Cup. Below, he offers some other insights to the troubles and complexities facing modern-day Cup syndicates.
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By Olin J. Stephens
Age and nostalgia have led me to unfavourably contrast the present conditions affecting the America's Cup with my experiences in the period between 1957 and 1980. Too many rules, all too complicated, too many lawyers. Another old-timer, whose initials are D.C., has been quoted as expressing similar feelings.
In general the present situation is hard to understand except in the context of a too rapidly changing world in which unintended consequences are all too frequent. Many conditions have changed and, if as I believe, some conditions have turned sour that seems likely to be the combined and unexpected result of several well-intentioned causes.
To be explicit on the subject of intellectual property – that is, the availability of prior knowledge and plans – to me as a yacht designer, long retired, these rights seem to have been misunderstood and misinterpreted.
When I was active it was made clear to the client that the design was the property of the designer and the owner had the right to use it. As the designer's property, the plans and calculations were part of his stock in trade, and he carried them along and developed them from project to project. The client had the right to expect the designer to reflect all his experience in his latest work.
Certainly, in no profession can experience or the details which it has been built be wiped from memory. I, with most professionals, kept notes in a book. Today, for most of us, the computer is an extension of the mind as well as a high-capacity notebook.
To me the penalty against OneWorld seems unjustified and unfair. Perhaps, to respect the eminent judges, we can suggest that they were bound by poor wording of the Protocol.
To me the designer's rights seem self-evident. I think the attempt to question them is exacerbated by failure to enforce the wishes of the original donor that, through clubs, the boats must represent nations and be created by real, deep down, nationals. Enforcing that would greatly reduce incentives to buy talent. I believe that this opinion is one that has been almost unanimously supported, as by a panel and audience (during a public forum) at the St. Francis Yacht Club’s Tinsley Island Station, San Francisco, and by sailors and non sailors with whom I have talked.
The big money both hurts and justifies a great deal. One cannot condemn Individuals who can set themselves up for a lifetime by accepting generous, if over-generous, offers to join a team playing a sport they love. Also the big money has a lot to do in bringing in the lawyers and complex rules contribute to that need. Necessary conditions can no longer be printed on one page.
The calendar limits the opportunity for more serious study. The America's Cup is not alone in trouble.
I like the quotation: "most things have something to do with everything". That’s a more elegant way of citing the "can of worms": nationality, money, complexity, property. Not to mention individuality, people.
They all seem high on the list but the whole story is longer. |
