America's Cup: Oracle's radar deemed illegal, but no penalty

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — No penalty was imposed on Oracle of San Francisco on Tuesday, even though a jury ruled the syndicate broke America's Cup rules by using a sophisticated radar system during races.

Instead of a penalty, the Cup jury invited other challengers and defender Team New Zealand to approve the use of radar and other devices in upcoming races.

Oracle finished off a sweep of OneWorld Challenge of Seattle on Monday to advance to the challenger final against Alinghi of Switzerland. Earlier, OneWorld had been penalized twice for possessing prohibited design information of a rival boat.

The jury's decision was a response to nine formal questions from OneWorld and other challengers about the use of radar by Oracle.

While determining that the use of any instruments capable of transmitting and receiving signals during a race is expressly forbidden, jury chairman Bryan Willis said the jury had not determined what Oracle's radar was used for or capable of because it wasn't asked to.

OneWorld did not protest Oracle's use of the radar system, which was housed in a teardrop shaped dome on the rear of its race yacht, USA-76.

By choosing to ask questions of the jury, OneWorld relinquished the chance to seek a penalty against Oracle.

While Oracle is the first America's Cup syndicate known to have developed an on-board radar system, the use of laser range finders — which allow one yacht to determine the speed and bearing of another — is commonplace.

The jury said that while the challengers and defender might choose to approve the use of radar, using it to receive information about factors such as wind speed and direction from outside sources would still be banned.

It also found, in response to a query from OneWorld, that it would be illegal for another team to transmit jamming signals from its race yacht or support boats to disrupt a radar beam.