|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Bloody mess Italy loses crewman, falls behind 2-0
Posted: Tuesday February 22, 2000 01:05 AM
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) - Italy's Luna Rossa sailed into a bloody nightmare in the second race of the America's Cup. Down one crewman and its hull splattered with his blood, Luna Rossa came to practically a dead stop on the first leg while another sailor went into the water to try to clear a plastic bag that snagged on the keel. Already behind because of a vexing move by New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts at the start, the Italians could only watch helplessly as Black Magic sailed toward an overwhelming victory Tuesday to take a 2-0 lead in the 30th America's Cup. New Zealand, trying to become the first country other than the United States to defend the Cup, won by 2 minutes, 43 seconds. Race 3 in the best-of-9 finals is scheduled for Thursday. As the boats continued around the six-leg, 18.5-mile course, the disasters only compounded aboard Luna Rossa. On the windward fifth leg, the Italians had a problem with the hardware that controls the sheet used to trim the jib. Unable to tack, Luna Rossa sat in bad air coming off Black Magic while the crew feverishly worked to fix it, allowing the Kiwis to add 27 seconds to their already insurmountable lead. Someone aboard Luna Rossa muttered that their luck couldn't have been any worse. The most disastrous part of the day came with the boats sailing upwind on the first leg. Bowman Massimiliano Sirena suddenly leaned over the rail, a towel being held to his head by a crewmate. Sirena pulled his hand back, and it was covered with blood. Soon, the starboard side was stained with blood, right where Luna Rossa (Red Moon) is painted on the silver hull. Sirena apparently was hit in the head by a carbon-fiber pole being used by another crewman trying to remove a plastic bag from one of the winglets on the keel bulb. A tender raced in to pick up Sirena, who according to preliminary reports suffered a three-inch gash. That left the Italians to sail with 15 crewmen compared to 16 aboard Black Magic, as if the methodical Kiwis needed any more of an advantage. The Italians first tried to clear the plastic bag by using the pole, then suspended a man over the side trying for better leverage. They finally brought the 75-foot yacht almost to a full stop and had Piero Romeo in the water to try to clear the bag. The bag apparently cleared when the boat stopped. "We couldn't take it off," skipper Francesco de Angelis said. "Our only option was to stop the boat." At the time, "we thought we were 2-3 lengths ahead," Kiwi tactician Brad Butterworth said. "It was going to be a good race." Black Magic, meanwhile, rounded the first mark ahead by a whopping 2:19. The Italians' spirits were lifted when they gained on the second and third legs, but they would have needed some sort of catastrophic breakdown aboard Black Magic to have a chance. Black Magic, which won Sunday's first race, took control just a minute into the pre-start maneuvers when Coutts, one of the world's best match-racing skippers, made a brilliant move against de Angelis, an America's Cup rookie. After about a 30-minute delay to allow the breeze to fill in on the Hauraki Gulf, Black Magic entered the starting box from the left side while Luna Rossa came in on favored starboard tack.
Coutts wanted the right side of the course, figuring the wind
would shift that way. He made a hairpin turn, let Luna Rossa go
past and then ducked underneath to get the position he wanted.
Black Magic crossed the starting line 18 seconds ahead.
| ||||||||||||||||
