After 144 years, the unthinkable finally happened in an America's Cup race.
The yacht oneAustralia broke in two in heavy wind and fierce Pacific Ocean waves on Sunday, and sank within two minutes. All 17 crew members were rescued."This team that we have is a red-hot racing team, and we're conditioned for the ups as well as the downs," skipper John Bertrand said after the worst accident in America's Cup history. "You don't practice abandoning the ship so that it can go to the bottom of the ocean."
The $3 million oneAustralia, launched in January, was sailing its ninth race.
The Australians will continue on in the trials in their older boat, which sailed in the first two round-robins of the challenger trials.
"We (Australians) are known for our bush fires and floods. We come from very strong stock," said Bertrand, who became the first foreign skipper to win the America's Cup in a dramatic upset of Dennis Conner in 1983.
"We have to focus our energy into our first boat and go on without equipment and win the America's Cup."
The surreal drama began halfway through the 18.55-mile race, with oneAustralia trailing Team New Zealand on the windward third leg, through a squall.
The crew had just completed a tack onto starboard and was trimming the sails when the gumleaf green hull, made of carbon fiber, buckled about five feet aft of the mast.
"We heard a loud crack, just like a cannon going off," said Bertrand, who thought the rigging was coming down. "And then the boat appeared to start to fold like a sheet of cardboard through the center, and (there was) this sickening sound as the boat was breaking apart."
The crew abandoned ship as the 75-foot hull folded in on itself, and chase boats from both teams raced in. New Zealand's chase boat picked up 10 crewmembers, including Bertrand and helmsman Rod Davis.
"We told everyone to take off their boots and get the h-- out of there," Bertrand said.
"Half the team were in the water still, being picked up by the chase boats, when the top of the mast was disappearing into the ocean," he said. "It's unbelievable."
Bertrand said there was concern when an initial head count came up one short.
"It was a terrible look to see a lot of foul-weather gear floating on top of the surface and a few oneAustralia hats, and nothing else," Bertrand said.
Besides the foul-weather gear, only a sail bag and a piece of debris floated on the surface.
Also Sunday, France 3 dismasted and a Stars & Stripes crewman was left dangling upside down from the running backstay, 65 feet off the deck, after losing his grip while descending from making a repair.
This is the second America's Cup contested in the International America's Cup Class yachts. To best handle San Diego's usually light, shifty winds, the yachts are built as light as possible and put under extremely heavy loads.
"And therefore when one sails them in the maximum conditions . . . then they're fully stressed out," Bertrand said. "We're still unclear exactly how this boat broke up, and why."
Bertrand said Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating would be asked to contact the U.S. Navy to see if the yacht could be salvaged. The yacht, which sank in about 500 feet of water some 3-5 miles off the coast, had 11 of the syndicate's 35 sails on board and its best mast.
OneAustralia officials said they will not be ready to sail today's scheduled race against France 3. All foreign syndicates except the French agreed to reschedule the race to Thursday. The international jury was to make a decision this morning on the postponement issue.
Should the jury refuse to reschedule the race, France would need to just sail the race course alone to pick up five points.
The Australians "paid the price for engineering a light boat," said French skipper Marc Pajot, whose yacht is fighting for the last berth in the semifinals. "And we paid the same price with our rig. In the case of light air it paid off. Today it did not."
Team New Zealand, oneAustralia and NZL-39 are in the challenger semifinals.
Bertrand said oneAustralia, Team New Zealand and France advised the race committee that the conditions were unfit for racing.
"The seas were difficult for this type of boat," he said.
Race official Pat Healy said the conditions did not exceed pre-determined parameters.
The swell was between 5 and 6 feet, and Bertrand said gauges on the mast showed the true wind at 20-22 knots when the hull snapped.
Not long after oneAustralia sank, the 110-foot mast on France 3 broke at the third spreader, and two men were thrown overboard. They were immediately pulled back on. Rioja de Espana sailed on for the victory.
In the only race that was completed, Sydney 95 beat Nippon by 1 minute, 22 seconds. The race jury rejected Nippon's protest that the race shouldn't have been sailed in such conditions.
On the defender course, the America3 women's team won its second straight race in Mighty Mary, although opponent Stars & Stripes did not finish.
Stars & Stripes also sustained damage and eventually dropped its mainsail, sailing upwind with only a jib. Mighty Mary eventually did the same.
Shortly after the start, Stars & Stripes foredeck crewman Ralf Steitz was sent up the mast to disengage the halyard lock. He lost his grip and was flung through the air, catching himself on the running backstay. Bowman Greg Prussia went up the mast to free Steitz.