Running aground is not a stroke of fate that only affects amateurs. Even professionals
are also brought to a rude halt from time to time. After BMW Oracle Racing and Mascalzone Latino stumbled in this way last week, Shosholoza's return journey to the Cup harbour in Trapani was also brought to a rude halt recently.
"We were towing a little too close to land on the way into the harbour," reported
on the way into harbour," reported Hamburg boat captain Tim Kröger, "and we ran onto soft sand."
The stop from a speed of eleven knots was "not gentle", but also
nowhere near comparable to the whale collision off Cape Town in the spring. "Nobody was injured, there were just a few stumbles."
For an hour, the RSA 83, sponsored by T-Systems and others, rocked back and forth in the swell and the rig shook. Only then did the cupper get free again and was then hastily craned out of the water in the harbour. However, the damage was limited: Only a bruised keel was to be lamented.
"To be on the safe side, we replaced all the keel bolts that connect the bomb to the fin." The mast was also pulled for a check, but showed no signs of damage. "We are fit and ready to go for Act 9," said Kröger on Thursday evening in Trapani.
The three-day fleet race series starts today, Friday, and ends on Sunday after a total of five races. The season standings for 2005 will then be finalised. Nominally, Alinghi is clearly in the lead so far, although they surprisingly lost the last two match races of Act 8.
However, the Swiss syndicate with Jochen Schümann does not actually play a role in the final standings because it is not listed in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Ranking as a Cup defender. So far, BMW Oracle Racing is at the top of the rankings in terms of victories, just ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand:
1 BMW Oracle Racing, 52 points, 4 bonus points
2 Emirates Team New Zealand, 51 points, 3 bonus points
3 Luna Rosa, 51 points, 3 bonus points
4 Desafio Espanol, 36 points, 3 bonus points
5 K-Challenge, 31 points, 2 bonus points
6 +39, 30 points, 2 bonus points
7 Victory Challenge, 29 points, 2 bonus points
8 Mascalsone Latino Capitalia, 28 points, 1 bonus point
9 United Internet Team Germany, 17 points, 1 bonus point
10 Team Shosholoza 13 points, 1 bonus point
11 China Team, 7 points, 1 bonus point
YACHT online reports daily from Trapani until Sunday!
