Capsize and rescue
Yesterday at around 3 pm local time, the black AC72 cat of the defending champion Oracle Team USA, sail number USA 17, went upside down near Alcatraz Island on San Francisco Bay. It was a classic undercut or "pitchpole", as it is called in English, caused by 25 knots of wind from the west and extremely strong outflowing water coming from the east through the eye of the Golden Gate into the Pacific. The boat had already sailed on the foils while accelerating before it tipped forwards.
"We were going to fall off," says Tom Slingsby, the Australian Laser Olympic champion, who is assisting his compatriot Jimmy Spithill as tactician. "When the bow went down, the wing hit and a few of the guys fell into the water. We didn't know if the wing would break, so everyone got off the boat." The wing broke anyway as the boat slowly capsized and was swept out to sea by the tide against the wind under the Golden Gate Bridge. Sailors and wreckage were picked up and towed away by the escort boats. Oracle reported that everyone was uninjured and in good health.
"It's a setback, no question, a big test for the team," confirmed helmsman Spithill. "But we've been in a situation like this before in the last campaign and went on to win the Cup. We have a strong team coming back. It won't stop us from winning the America's Cup."
The rescue crew had to work into the dark to secure the boat before it could be towed back to the team base at Pier 80 in capsized condition. There it will be craned to determine the full extent of the damage. Two things are certain: compared to the AC45s, a capsize with the large cat has gigantic consequences. And the boat builders have a lot of work to do to get the boat back on the water, especially the completely destroyed wing.
But it doesn't affect the poor, because Oracle Team USA is building a second boat that will be launched in spring 2013. Changes to the Cup programme are not expected as a result of this mishap, says America's Cup CEO Stephen Barclay.
More on www.americascup.com and www.oracleteamusa.com.
