PERSONALITY PROFILE

In the December 2003 edition of Groundswell we published a Personality Profile on Club member, David Tillett, whose contribution to the sailing world was extensive and now needs updating. At that time he was about to embark on his role as Chairman of the International Jury for the 2004 Athens Olympics and as a member of the Jury Umpire Team for the 2007 America’s Cup held in Valencia in Spain. These tasks were completed with distinction and this article is designed to bring you up-to-date with David’s sailing and personal achievements since that time. Now 67 years old and a little lighter in hair colouring possibly due to his role in judging high profile events and leading international arbitration panels, juries and umpires in making the tough decisions and resolving the sport’s most acrimonious disputes. A lawyer by profession, this career opened the door to a career in sailing administration which carries one of sport’s most complex arrays of rules and regulations. To illustrate this point David has a dispute resolution book published by the International Jury which spans more than 800 pages and lists the decisions made by the International Jury and Arbitration Panel he chaired at the 2013 America’s Cup. The publication for the last America’s Cup Arbitration Panel which he chaired will be a similar size. He has had varying roles as umpire/International Jury member/Chair Arbitration Panel for the America’s Cup since 1992 and was also there as Chairman of the Arbitration Panel for the last regatta held in Auckland in 2021 when New Zealand was successful in defending the Cup. Since our article in 2003 Groundswell, David has also been Chairman of the Olympic Jury in 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics and was the Event Disciplinary Investigation Officer for Tokyo 2020. He has also been Chairman of the America’s Cup Jury in Valencia Spain in 2010 and San Francisco in 2013. The Olympics are David’s favourite event and involve challenging and interesting protests. A series of unprecedented events in the last race of the 2008 Beijing Olympic 49er class event thrust his extensive work in the backrooms of sailing administration into the global spotlight when the outcome of a gold medal was in the jury’s hands. The weather was terrible and 30 knot winds were pelting the Yellow Sea. About 15 minutes before the start, the first-placed Danish team, who only needed to finish seventh to claim the gold medal, suffered a catastrophic failure when their mast split open leaving them without a boat for the final race. As fortune would have it the Croatian team who had failed to qualify for the final offered to lend them their boat. Late to the start (with only three seconds before they would have been ineligible to start), in an unfamiliar boat and weather conditions that saw much of the field capsize, the Danish team managed to scrape through for the required seventh place to claim the gold. A raft of protests ensued from the second-placed Spanish and fourth-placed Italians who claimed a number of rules were broken during the boat swap. David chaired and appointed the five-member International Jury who was tasked with making a ruling on the protest. The breaches carried discretionary penalties (including no penalty) and as they were non-performance related, not deliberate, and having regard to the unusual circumstances, the International Jury was able to award no points penalties. Their decision was to reward the skill of the Danish sailors and dismiss the protests but it was appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and ultimately upheld. Fourteen years later David comments that he has never seen circumstances like it again and maintains it was one of the most rewarding decisions they made as it meant the boat that won on the water against all the adversity kept the gold medal. Having started sailing at the age of eight, his career in the sport is now stretching into its seventh decade. Even though he doesn’t get out on the water very often now he still has a passion for the sport’s social qualities as he describes it as a ‘sport for life’ with people from six to well into their eighties still sailing. David’s contribution is ongoing and in 2020 he was appointed Chair of the World Sailing Constitution Committee having served on the World Sailing Council for 17 years and is also Chair of the Australian Sailing/Australian Maritime Museum Sailing Hall of Fame based at Darling Harbour, New South Wales. His involvement in the sport has been monumental and in 2014 was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of his service. He also received the Australian Sailing President’s Award in 2019. His latest accolade has been to be inducted into the South Australian Sports Hall of Fame joining three-time America’s Cup skipper, Sir James Hardy, who was inducted in 2013. He had just returned from chairing the international jury overseeing this year’s Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race when he was informed of his nomination. He was pleased to be recognised in such a prestigious position and considers it a great honour and commented that he was surprised because it hadn’t been on his radar in any way. Fellow Club member, Rob Gerard AO, conducted the gallery unveiling at the Southern Concourse of the Adelaide Oval. To answer the initial question of “Where to from here?”, David has been appointed as Chair of the Arbitration Panel for the America’s Cup to be held in Barcelona, Spain in 2024 and may also be involved with officiating at the Paris 2024 Olympics. David, you are a legend and one could only comment that with the contribution you have made to sailing, you deserve all you have been awarded so congratulations from me personally and also on behalf of our fellow members at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia.

Gay Footer Source – INDAILY, 24/1/2022 by Thomas Kelsall