Another keel bites the dust

Oracle loose keel again as America's Cup boats continue to suffer in Hauraki Gulf

Oracle syndicate yacht USA49 became the latest America's Cup boat to suffer gear failure in training in the Hauraki Gulf. Kiwi skipper Chris Dickson and his Oracle racing team were training in 14-knot winds north of Onetangi Bay, Waiheke Island, when one of their two boats lost its keel and rolled over.
As some of the crew perched on the hull and the half submerged boom yesterday, coastguard boats helped to stabilise the yacht and put in pumping equipment. The yacht was towed to Motutapu Island to await a break in the weather, now gusting to 40 knots, before returning to Auckland.

In a statement released by Oracle, 'all crew were said to be safe and the sailing and support teams were working together to rescue the hull. Once the boat is back at the base the shore team will be able to better access the time it will take to get USA 49 back on the water.'

This is another incident in what has been an expensive month for the America's Cup teams training in New Zealand for the next Cup Challenge in 2002. Last week, the mast broke on Team New Zealand's NZL57 and One World suffered a similar incident last month on USA51.

This is the second keel loss for the Oracle team, just a year ago Dickson was also at the helm when an Oracle yacht lost its keel and toppled over during training in the gulf.

None of the Oracle crew were speaking publicly about the incident last night.

Auckland Coastguard duty officer Dean Lawrence said the weather and sea conditions were perfect for sailing early yesterday but deteriorated during the morning with winds in the gulf blowing more than 40 knots.