Damage could rule out Morning Glory

Dick Johnson reports from St Maarten as the regatta nears

The long-awaited first competition between the Z86 maxis Pyewacket and Morning Glory at the St Maarten Heineken Regatta looked to be in jeopardy today when Morning Glory came in from a two boat training session with a broken locking headboard car.

Pyewacket lead Morning Glory out through the Lagoon Bridge into Simpson Bay at 0930 this morning, both boats looking forward to a good workout in a sparkling breeze of 18 to 25 knots, a slight sea and some typical Caribbean sunshine. Once out in open water in Simpson Bay they raised sail and started on a round the island trial, with impressive speed coming from boat boats. But when the bridge was raised at lunchtime, Morning Glory came through on her own, the crew already taking the damaged headboard car from the mast.

It appears that the locking headboard car has broken in two, doubtless due to the impressive loads that these boats generate. According to Navigator Ian Moore, the car has broken completely in half and they don't have a spare. Attempts are being made to create a replacement from a normal batten car, but that would mean that they could not use the halyard lock for the mainsail and would have to jury rig a 2:1 halyard with all the complications that would cause - even if they could find a sufficiently long length of suitably strong line..

It might be a case of de ja vu for Morning Glory's Dee Smith if he casts his memory back to the Volvo race, when locking headboard cars failed on a number of boats. Smith has been quoted in thedailysail.com to the effect that these boats are so powerful thanks to the canting keel technology, that much of the equipment aboard - most of it to America's Cup Class standards - is working to the limit of it's strength.

A visit to the team's container base at the Port de Plaisance marina saw an unusually subdued Dee Smith in deep conversation on his mobile phone as he discussed the failure and tried to conjour up a replacement- and the sounds of serious metalwork coming from one of the containers as an attempt at creating a temporary replacement was begun.

According to Ian Moore, there might be a fall-back position for the regatta, but one that would disappoint the many people looking forward to this fascinating match. The fall-back involves their mother ship, Dr Hasso Plattener's 147ft Visione, which they might race in Spinnaker 1 class. They don't have a spare car, but they do have a spare Baltic 147 to use - and of course they have the crew to sail it.

Stan Honey, navigator of Pyewacket, and Robbie Haines, who runs the boat, were understandably upbeat about their boat's performance,and sympathertic for Morning Glory's plight. Stan was querying the time for the round the island record set last year by Steve Fossett's maxi catamaran Cheyenne - better known last year as Playstation - as their trials today resulted in an unofficial time that would have come in well inside the big cat's record. If Stan can persuade Robbie Haines and Roy Dysney, who flies in to the island tomorrow, to play ball, Pyewacket might have a stab at the record while the wind is still up.

Today has been the first day of registration for the 24th St Maarten Heineken with the first contingent of the 250-odd strong fleet singning in. Beating the record entry of 255 boats still looks possible, particularly as the winds are easing and the forecast shows that, over the period of the regatta, the current 20 knots will moderate through to Sunday when it will perhaps only be 12 knots. Ideal conditions for an excellent regatta.