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| | Tuesday, November 9 | |||||
ESPN | ||||||
| AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- On the third day of Round Robin 2 of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the New York Yacht Club's entry Young America cracked amidships and folded in half.
Miraculously, the boat did not sink. The major damage was above the waterline, and Young America's crew and several vessels close by sprung into action to save the hull.
Some quick-thinking Italians from the Prada syndicate were able to inflate several large airbags to give the boat floatation. Within a few minutes, four pumps were on board working at maximum capacity. Rival AmericaOne's tender supplied one of the pumps. In 1995, the Australian entry OneAustralia suffered similar damage and ended up sinking in 90 seconds. It is clear that designers are pushing engineering fail-safe limits to the edge. Over the long history of the America's Cup, two other boats have sunk, but not during Cup action. A year after the 1893 America's Cup match, Lord Dunraven was at the helm of Valkyrie III. A local rival, Satanita luffed hard to avoid a spectator boat during a fleet race and rammed Valkyrie III. The boat sank in minutes and an injured crewman later died. As a result of the incident, Dunraven made a big issue out of the proximity of the spectator fleet for the 1895 match. In 1970, the 12-meter Chancegger sank in the North Sea during trials against a French challenger.Luckily for the New York Yacht Club, history was not repeated this week. But the incident is a serious setback. Publicly, team officials are upbeat, indicating it is better to have a problem like this now and not during the crucial final trials or America's Cup match. But now Young America must sail by itself without the benefit of a trial horse through the conclusion of the round robin series. It is estimated that the damaged hull could be repaired by Dec. 15. In the meantime, builder Eric Goetz will have to send a team of skilled workers to Auckland from Bristol, R.I., with adequate carbon fiber material. America's Cup class hulls are baked in an oven. A repair of this nature will be difficult. Young America's designer, Farr Yacht Designs, will have to work hard to correct the problem and reassess engineering and stress limits. The crew could now turn gun shy, since the second boat will be put into action without the benefit of strengthening. Any serious damage to the second boat could mean missing the cut. Six of the 11 challengers will advance to the semifinal round scheduled to begin Jan. 2. For Young America Skipper Ed Baird, history almost repeated itself. In 1995, Baird was aboard New Zealand as the 17th man when OneAustralia sank.The damage occurred as Young America slammed into a big wave during a tack. The wind was gusting to 22 knots, the same wind speed during the OneAustralia sinking. The deck cracked immediately and extended down each side of the hull to the waterline just behind the mast. The boat looked like a banana. Only two crew members stayed aboard, but they were taken off after a few minutes. The 17th man aboard Young America was former New York Yacht Club commodore Charlie Leighton, who was taken off the boat immediately. So far in the trials, Young America has been performing well. She has demonstrated excellent boat speed in all wind conditions. Just before the breakdown, Young America was about three boat-lengths ahead of Nippon. Young America will now be forced to show the potential of their second boat earlier than planned. The team's chief rivals, AmericaOne and Prada, will not sail their second and potentially better boat until January. With the breakdowns, collisions and high drama that have taken place so far on the Hauraki Gulf, one gets the feeling here that a lot more drama can be expected in the coming weeks. |  ALSO SEE America's Cup mishap: Young America splits apart
Second-round schedule and results
With first round over, fleet readies for real racing
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