New Zealand’s boat damaged after crane mishap on opening day of America’s Cup title defense

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Emirates Team New Zealand got off to a bungled start of its America’s Cup trophy defense Thursday when its yacht was damaged after a mishap with the crane removing it from the water after the sailing event’s opening races.

The 75-foot “Taihoro” monohull won’t be fit to sail on Friday and maybe for several days to come, the team said, after it took a hard hit when it fell some six meters (20 feet) and “landed heavily” on its cradle supports at the team’s base in Barcelona’s old port. New Zealand said that no crew members were hurt but that it would need to assess the damage.

“It’s certainly going to put us out for quite a while,” team CEO Grant Dalton said. “I was in my office and heard it. It sounded like a bomb went off. It will probably put us out for the round robins. Maybe we get back before the end of them, maybe not. Until we assess it properly we just don’t know.”

Fortunately for the Kiwis, their races in the opening round-robin phase over the next two weeks don’t count. Dalton’s team will then have a bye over the the following two rounds. The real racing for New Zealand begins in six weeks, when they will face the best of five challengers who survive the knockout rounds.

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Dalton and skipper Peter Burling, along with other team members, inspected the ship after it was raised up by a crane and gently secured in the cradle’s frame. They gave a specially long look at the starboard hydrofoil that was resting on the concrete ground until the ship was put in the correct position. The worst case scenario would be if its hull were cracked.

The incident overshadowed New Zealand’s win, which didn’t count for points anyway, over Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli earlier in their opening race.

Slow start for Magic

A pre-start mistake most likely cost American Magic a point in its first race, against INEOS Britannia.

American Magic, the boat representing the New York Yacht Club, fell off its foils when it slowed down too much in low-wind conditions before the race start. By the time the AC75 Patriot got back up to speed, the British had already crossed the start line and built a 700-meter lead.

The Brits earned the winning point, but skipper Ben Ainslie was downbeat after seeing the Americans eat up a large part of the huge lead they gifted his boat. American Magic finished only 12 second behind INEOS.

“It was a great race in the end, because American Magic had a problem at the start, but they did a nice job getting back into the race and keeping it close and getting some good gains back,” INEOS skipper Ben Ainslie told The Associated Press. “So for us it was mixed emotions really, very pleased to get a point on the board but also, our performance in straight line and maneuvering, we need to work on that.”

The Americans were left ruing what might have been.

“We need to be better at the starting and how we approach (it),” said American Magic helmsman Paul Goodison told the AP. “But we there’s plenty of good takeaways. We can we can learn that.”

French team Orient Racing Express beat Switzerland’s Alinghi Red Bull Racing after passing them halfway through the six-leg race.

The Italians bounced back from their meaingless loss to New Zealand by beating Orient Express by nearly 1 1/2 minutes.

The opening double round robin phase of the America’s Cup will eliminate the weakest of the five challengers by Sept. 8.

New Zealand is aiming for a third straight cup win after being victorious in 2017 in Bermuda and 2021 in Auckland. The Kiwis brought the 37th America’s Cup to Barcelona saying it was necessary to guarantee the financial security of the team and a competition that would attract enough sponsors. Fashion and luxury goods designer Louis Vuitton has returned as the official sponsor of the race, and the trophy is secured in a custom Louis Vuitton case when it travels.

The America’s Cup is the world oldest international sports trophy. Only four countries — the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland — have ever won it.

Spain’s King Felipe VI, who sailed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, was in attendance on Day 1.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports