Yacht Almost Sinks In Cup Race
New York's Young America cracked open and nearly sank during a race Tuesday in the America's Cup challenger series.
With Young America leading Japan's Nippon approaching the final turn, the hull of the $4 million boat buckled just behind the mast after crashing through a series of 5-foot waves.
Skipper Ed Baird ordered his crew to abandon ship. Team members who leaped into the icy waters of Auckland's Hauraki Gulf were plucked to safety.
With the hull bent into a banana shape, some crewmen returned to the yacht with flotation bags and pumps and began cutting ropes and throwing sails and other equipment to waiting support boats in efforts to salvage as much as they could.
The crew frantically worked the pumps to keep the black-hulled yacht afloat as it was towed gingerly to port.
Only once in the 148-year history of sailing's most prized trophy has a boat sank during competition in 1995 oneAustralia broke in half and sank in about 90 seconds off San Diego.
With winds of around 20 knots and waves around a yard, conditions Monday were similar to those experienced when the Australian boat sank. Such conditions are not uncommon for America's Cup races.
John Bertrand, oneAustralia's skipper, said it appeared that Young America's hull had not split below the water line.
"It would appear a compression failure through the deck, otherwise the boat would be at the bottom of the ocean now," Bertrand said.
Young America was leading Nippon by three boat lengths when Baird steered from port to starboard for a final tack before rounding the top mark. The 75-foot boat reared up in one wave and came down hard into a second. The deck folded with a loud crack.
"When these boats are semi-airborne coming down into the next wave they are generating up to 60 tons of compression load," Bertrand said in a running commentary posted on the official America's Cup Web site. "Its not surprising that there can be structural damage."
Young America's $40 million campaign, representing the New York Yacht Club, will now have to rely on its second boat.
In other races, Italy's Prada extended its lead over the field with a 3 minute, 43 second victory over Young Australia; the Spanish challenge defeated the French by 19 seconds; Hawaii's Abracadabra beat Dennis Connor's Stars and Stripes by 3 seconds; and AmericaOne defeated Switzerland's Fast 2000 by 3 minutes, 29 seconds.
Eleven syndicates are competing in the Louis Vuitton Cup series to decide who will meet defender Team New Zealand next year for the America's Cup.
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