From grins to white knuckles in one race

By CATHERINE MASTERS and ALAN PERROTT

A handful of drinkers struggled through an impromptu post-race rendition of Loyal as thousands of dumbstruck fans aimlessly wandered past wondering what had just hit them.

The hordes at the Viaduct Basin yesterday afternoon were simply gobsmacked. In less than half an hour their victory shouts had become bitter curses - what happened?

Throughout the day they had rallied to put the memory of race one behind them. If anyone was worried, they weren't letting on, at least not publicly.

Earle Crutchley, 82, was up from Christchurch with wife Norma, 73, and made sure he stood out.

He'd jury-rigged a black hat over an inflated steering wheel cover and emblazoned it with Loyal stickers, badges and fluffy Kiwi toys hanging around the rim, Aussie-bushman style.

"I'm not at all put off by Saturday," he said. "It was just unfortunate, that's all. They deserve our support."

While a little deflated by Team New Zealand's first-day disaster, yesterday he was back to normal with "every confidence" in the crew.

Unlike Coutts he wasn't about to be seduced by foreign money and had walked away from a generous cash offer for his hat by a German television crew on Saturday.

Leone Treadwell, of Wellsford, was on deck at 6.30am throughout the weekend brandishing her Team New Zealand flag draped from a black fishing rod: "I'm loyal," she declared.

"They can still get it. If they don't today they'll come back again. I'll be here at the end. I love it here, it's the atmosphere."

Loaded Hog manager Mike Gill said Saturday's disaster had no effect on punters: "It was our biggest day. We had a huge wave of people when all the boats arrived back. People partied long and hard."

They also made "good" inroads into the 27 pallets of booze which had been ordered for the races.

The crowd was bigger than when Team New Zealand beat Prada, he added. The pub was open until 3am, then closed with a queue still at the door so the staff could get some sleep before reopening at 7am.

Having only just recovered from the shock of the black boat's submarine impression on Saturday, some would have been reaching for the heart pills yesterday.

Forget rollercoasters - for the sunbaked hordes crammed around the television screens dotted throughout the Viaduct, race two was an emotional bungy jump gone wrong.


Frowns above the white-knuckled grip on the beer glasses made way for grins wider than the gap Dean Barker and co opened up on the first spinnaker leg and everyone made very merry.

But the massive lead had all but disappeared when the final run began.

Unprintable comments greeted a lingering shot of Brad Butterworth shaking hands with his crewmates before crossing the line - someone had pooped the party.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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