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| | Tuesday, December 14 | |||||
| AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Its fate delayed by bad weather
again, Young America syndicate chief John Marshall said fear was a
factor in his team's almost certain exit from the America's Cup
challenge.
After its boat cracked apart and almost sank during a race in
the challenger series on Nov. 9, the team never sailed quite the
same way again, Marshall said.
"The fear of the boat became a factor," Marshall said Tuesday.
"The boat could have killed someone, and until the team built a
lot of confidence in (second boat) USA58, they were gun-shy.
"The other thing we should recognize is the fatigue factor is
enormous. These people worked an awful lot of hours without
adequate sleep to get USA58 on the water, and I think that
showed."
The two-boat, $40 million Young America syndicate was the New
York Yacht Club's first challenger in 12 years. It won eight of its
first 10 races before the first boat buckled and their second was
rushed out of the shed early.
The team has won only three of eight races in the crucial third
round-robin of the elimination series to decide the America's Cup
challenger.
When San Francisco's America True, which has already qualified
for the challenger finals, announced it wouldn't compete in its
last two races, the French team was almost guaranteed enough points
to knock Young America out.
All the French boat has to do is complete the course in its
scheduled race against America True to take the 9-point win.
Race director Vince Cooke postponed racing for 24 hours on Tuesday for the second consecutive day as winds gusted to more than 30
knots on the courses on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.
Marshall said rules governing the design of America's Cup Class
boats should be reviewed in the light of structural problems aboard
several teams' boats in the heavy conditions in New Zealand.
"It's not giving our sport a good name to see this kind of
carnage out here," he said.
Marshall said the America's Cup involved the best yacht
designers and boat builders in the world, yet the fleet was
experiencing breakdowns that were not acceptable.
He warned that a sailor could be killed if he got in the way
when a bulkhead ripped out of a boat's deck, as happened on both
Fast 2000 from Switzerland and Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes.
"There are other ways to get killed, too," Marshall said.
"Not to be alarmist about it, but why take the risk?
"Putting aside personal injury, this is an expensive enough
event as it is, without adding the cost of insuring at very high
premiums because of the high risk."
Failure to make the final six in the now 10-boat contest would
be a humiliation for New York, holders of the America's Cup for 132
years until they lost it to Australia in 1983.
New York entered another boat four years later, but failed to
qualify for the semifinals, ironically being knocked out by
France's entry, French Kiss. |  ALSO SEE America True dooms Young America Young America on the brink of America's Cup elimination Third-round schedule and results How the competition works  | |||||