David Tillett AM considers himself fortunate to have worked with wonderful judges, Arbitration Panel members and umpires over a long period of time in the America’s Cup.

Graeme Owens OAM, the great Australian race official and architect of modern-day umpiring invited David to be on the 1987 Louis Vuitton Cup Jury in Perth, but the invitation was declined due to David’s work commitments. Graeme must have seen the future ahead of David as he invited him again in 1989 as an umpire for the inaugural World Match Racing Championships in Perth. It was there that David met and worked with Graeme and other international rules experts including Bryan Willis, Goran Peterson, John Ripard, Bertrand de Speville to name a few.

What followed was an education in umpiring at events around the world and attending the first umpire seminar which took place in Auckland in around 1990. Following that seminar David was fast-tracked into being an International Judge and International Umpire. This then led to the Louis Vuitton Cup in San Diego 1992.

Umpiring and jury work both have their place in our sport. Umpiring evolved considerably from some of the initial umpiring being on the back of boats, as was the case in New Zealand, to rubber ducks and then particularly fast umpire boats. David considers the sport owes a lot to the pioneers of umpiring and is very grateful to have worked in the early days of umpiring with Graeme Owens OAM, Tom Ehman, Goran Peterson, and Bryan Willis to name a few.

David observes that the America’s Cup has had a significant professional element for many years. As the professionalism in the sailors has ramped up, so too have the umpires and race management, with these official roles having become semi-professional as well.

Not only involved in Cup juries and umpire panels, David’s experience extends to the America’s Cup Arbitration Panel. A different criterion applies to the Arbitration Panel members being made up of lawyers, which is a much more dispute resolution approach dealing with matters that are not field of play decisions.

Some interesting matters that David has been involved in include the 33rd America’s Cup involving the catamaran against the trimaran. This involved David, Bryan Willis and Graham McKenzie assisting in the Supreme Court of the State of New York on technical issues. The Supreme Court directed that three experts be appointed to advise the Court in respect of several matters to be expert witnesses at the hearing.

Following discussions with the appointees, David as the person appointed by the other 2 proposed witnesses, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting a different process, namely that the three appointed experts would conduct the hearing and provide the Court with the answers to the five questions they had posed. The Court readily agreed with that approach.
Some of the questions that the Supreme Court sought expert guidance on included:

a)    How `load water-line` is measured in an America’s Cup race, including but not limited to whether the Defender could exclude movable ballast from measurement and whether the same procedures are used when dealing with a catamaran and a trimaran. 
b)    Whether the same procedures are used when dealing with a catamaran compared with a trimaran.
c)    The safety of holding the race of the coast in Valencia in February 2010.
d)    When the panel of jurors is customarily appointed in an America’s Cup challenge.

The Panel met in New York with only 7 days’ notice, facilitated discussions with the parties on the evening of arrival, then conducted a hearing and provided answers to the Court the following day which the Court adopted.

The most difficult America’s Cup that David was involved with was undoubtedly the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013. The Dispute Resolution Book for this Cup was over 800 pages! Issues that the Panel had to deal with were very diversified and included:
1.    A hearing to determine whether the Regatta Director exceeded his jurisdiction by introducing amendments to the class rules following the tragic accident in May 2013 involving the death of an Artemis sailor, Andrew Simpson.
2.    King posts on certain AC45’s containing illegal weight leading to findings of gross misconduct and bringing the America’s Cup into disrepute.
3.    Failure of a team to attend the Louis Vuitton Cup opening party and to display their America’s Cup 45 boat at that party.

In several matters, fines imposed were substantial which included directions for payments to the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation in memory of Andrew Simpson, the Treasure Island Sailing Club in San Francisco for the purpose of improving the sport of sailing for people with physical disabilities, and to a charitable organisation selected by the Mayor of San Francisco to provided support to at risk youth in the San Francisco Bay area.

Keen observers will note that whilst David may not be galivanting about on umpire boats anymore he still maintains an active and important role working in the Cup. David has been appointed as the Chairman of the Arbitration Panel for this America’s Cup, being the 36th America’s Cup.

David has also had an extensive involvement with the Olympic Games, having been a jury member at five such games, three of which he was Chairman. He has also been appointed as the event disciplinary investigation officer for the Tokyo 2020 Games. 

Sailors and race officials in Australia should be proud and consider themselves fortunate to have David on board for what has been decades of service at the highest of levels. The flags and whistles will eventually be handed on to other officials, but the legacy of David’s leadership, expertise and contribution will prove beneficial for generations to come. 

By Glen Stanaway https://www.sailing.org.au/about/ourstaff/.