Cracking time

+39 skipper Iain Percy describes how they have been fairing in Trapani as part of home team

After a strong showing in Malmo for Acts 6 and 7 of this America's Cup, Iain Percy and his +39 crew have been having a hard time in Trapani during the Act 8 match racing, where finally yesterday they managed to get a second point on the board, beating fellow countrymen Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team in the second flight. They are currently lying eighth, on equal points with Team Shosholoza and United Internet Team Germany.

"We’ve had two spinnaker drops that have put us in a different position to Malmo - is the long and short of it," Iain Percy sums up their current position. "The race against China - we were a minute and a half ahead, put the kite under the boat, fished it, they got past us. We got just past K-Challenge, put the spinnaker under the boat, they passed us - race over. That’s the difference between the results in Malmo and as they are now."

Are we seeing a pattern here? The handling issues appear to be the result of gear failure that is changing the routines for Percy's fledgling America's Cup crew. "For things to go that wrong there need to be a series of mistakes," he continues. "The second one I had a hand in for sure. Everything broke on the boat, that’s why the kite went in the drink, but if I had realised it a bit quicker I could have probably steered around it so that it just went in the water instead of under the boat. The first one was just a *&^%*&% up."

Another issue is that Percy's +39 team are not only Italian, but having had their base in Sicily for the past 12 months, they are effectively the home team at an event that is attracting Cup Final-level crowds to Trapani. This spotlight is putting extra stress on the team. "Maybe it’s hard for some of the local guys as it puts pressure on them," says Percy. However there are many more positives to be drawn from this. "Being here there is incredible support. It's been fantastic - brilliant for us and brilliant for the sport. I’ve never seen an atmosphere like it. I didn’t know quite how big sailing was in Italy until this week. I can’t imagine us getting the same level of interest in Portsmouth. Everyone here is genuinely interested; it is popular sport to them, so I am quite enjoying being part of an Italian team. It makes you realise how into it the public are. It makes you think you aren’t just playing boats in some port in the world. I think Valencia will be the same - they are doing a lot of work to increase interest in Valencia and that is good."

Aside from young Italian girls asking for autographs, the main issue this week has been the weather. Compared to Valencia and Malmo, where there were days of strong winds but mainly flat water, Trapani has delivered up much stronger conditions - both wind and waves - than the teams have been used to, or even that their boats and gear have been speced for. From a spectators point-of-view of course this has made Trapani the most exciting racing so far in this America's Cup cycle.

"I think we are struggling a bit to be honest," says Percy of the conditions. "We are getting a lot of breakages every race. So far this week it's been: two booms, a spinnaker pole, three guys and the rudder. There’s been a lot of stuff on our boat that has gone. So one of the reasons why you have problems with these drops is just a series of errors, things have gone wrong, things have broken, so you are in a different situation to what you wanted to be."

Percy says that despite having trained out of Sicily they haven't experienced conditions like this. "The first event we ever did in Valencia was pretty fruity but that was in flat water. Old gear in these conditions - wavey and windy - is probably the most strain you’ll put on an America’s Cup boat. Everyone’s had breakages but I think the older boats particularly."

Apart from the gear, their boat (one of their two former Team Dennis Conner 2003 generation Stars & Stripes) has also taken a pasting. "Our boat made an almighty noise today when we bore away," continues Percy. "I thought, 'here we go - the whole thing is going to snap, or the rudder is going to break off again'. I’ve never heard anything like it. It was like a screaming dying cat. It was like carbon was being stretched and ripped somewhere in the boat, but we couldn’t find it. Anyway it didn’t continue to break for the rest of the day, but it was quite worrying. I always thought old, tried and tested was a good thing. But I think you can overdo that."

Aside from the dying cat noises, yesterday they finished relatively unscathed. "We are very pleased to come ashore with the same number of sails, in fact the same number of everything, that we went out with. I think that was a first," admits Percy.

This week it has not only been boats that have been breaking. Fellow Finn sailor Andrew 'Bart' Simpson, who shares tactical afterguard duties on +39 with Ian Walker, aside from being hurled into the water during a spinnaker trawl on Saturday, was also injured on the first day of racing, when he was clouted on the back of the head by the spinnaker pole. Simpson is still feeling the effects of this and yesterday was back in hospital complaining of limited movement in one of his arms.

"It hasn’t been getting better as fast as they thought it would be," says Percy of his colleagues' injury, which may possibly be the result of a trapped nerve. "So he’s been struggling a bit. He hasn’t been sailing for the last few days and can hardly move his arm. We’ve been missing him on board to be honest. He’s not only good tactically, but he’s also our most competent boat handler at the back, which you need." Another Finn sailor, Karlo Kuret from Croatia has taken over, but hasn't had Simpson's degree of experience on board.

The loads generated by heavy, powerful Cup boats, makes racing them in strong winds and big waves potentially a highly dangerous pastime.

While their position on the score board in Trapani is not as impressive as it was in Malmo, Percy is not unduly concerned about their performance. "You try and put blame on things when the reality is we did two bad drops and that is something we won’t do in two years time when we are much more practiced. It doesn’t worry me too much. The starts have been going fine - actually I had a bad one against Oracle that being said - and Ian [Walker] has been doing well tactically and the guys are powerful. They are the three areas that for me in the long run seem hard - apart from design obviously - and in those three areas we still seem to be really good, or are improving."

The former GBR Challenge skipper Ian Walker is now full time with the team and Percy says that it is working out extremely well between them. As K-Challenge have been finding this week, communication speeds improve greatly between people not only of the same nation but who have been through the same school of sailing and no doubt think very similarly.

"It is a good combination," says Percy of how his afterguard is working out. "You can say little snippets in seconds and Bart can take over from Ian if he is busy with something and vica versa. So it is working well."

Today in the lighter conditions forecast, we will watch with interest to see if +39 can pick up two more points in their matches against Team Shosholoza and United Internet Team Germany.