In the days of the monohulls, the expensive America's Cup yachts were generally protected, guided and manoeuvred into their mooring position by escort boats. Despite highly paid professionals. For safety's sake. Too great was the
the concern of possible damage when mooring. The British Land Rover BAR team has now single-handedly botched a mooring manoeuvre and rammed a jetty in its current home port on Bermuda. The video shows the crew in all phases of the disaster.
How quickly a casual mooring manoeuvre can turn into an embarrassment...
Sir Ben Ainslie's team has not yet revealed whether the Cup car may have been damaged in the process. This cannot be ruled out in view of the background noise. The carbon fibre hulls in particular also make a remarkably loud bang during the collision.
The British professional crew thoroughly messed up this jetty. The video was published on the sailing blog "Sailing Anarchy". It says with some relish: "It happens to the best of us. Here, however, to the highly paid AC skippers..." On closer inspection, it becomes clear that a violent gust
may have contributed to the annoying and apparently too reckless encounter with the dock. The strong acceleration after the turn suggests a sudden gust of wind. Either way, the British projectile, which is carrying European hopes into the 35th America's Cup as co-favourite, is likely to undergo a thorough inspection first.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
