Yachting: Ill wind blows Kiwis no good

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

SYDNEY - It's like Maurice Greene stubbing his toe the week before the 100m.

New Zealand's sailors have copped a fair whack of damage since they started practising on Sydney Harbour.

On top of the Star sailors' drama with their boom flattened by a forklift, Kiwi boats have limped home injured in wicked winds, sometimes gusting up to 50 knots.

The damage list so far at Rushcutters Bay reads:

*The 470 women's pairing of Melinda Henshaw and Jenny Egnot were outside Sydney Heads when their mainsail blew. Trying to sail back to land, they lost their jib as well and had to be rescued by their coach, John Clinton.

*World champion boardsailor Aaron McIntosh bashed his best raceboard into the launching ramp, taking a chunk out of it.

*Peter Fox was trying to get his Laser out of the water, and asked a volunteer to hold on tight to the boat. The dinghy flipped, bending its mast.

*Rod Davis, Don Cowie and Alan Smith were matchracing their Soling against the Americans (coached, incidentally, by Russell Coutts), belting along under spinnaker, when a gust snapped a stay, and their mast buckled.

*Chris Dickson and Glen Sowry blew a jib on their Tornado, so they headed back to shore.

Other Olympic Tornadoes trying to brave the gales finished upside down.

It could have been much worse. And it was for other Olympians.

The Germans' Tornado lost control and impaled a chase boat, and a 49er skiff was found washed up on Bondi Beach.

New Zealand coach Harold Bennett had to rescue a Laser sailor who was floating alone in the middle of the harbour - his boat 500m away.

In other incidents, unrelated to the weather, a low-flying seaplane wiped the top off the mast of the Israeli 470 crew's boat, and a boardsailor from the Seychelles was almost run over by a Sydney ferry.

The New Zealanders have been fortunate - all their damage has been repairable or replaceable. Renowned Kiwi boatbuilder Steve Marten has been working around the clock to fix the New Zealand fleet.

There is nothing else that can be done - there is no official wind limit for the Olympic regatta.

The race committee can decide to call it a day if they feel the winds are too dangerous, but otherwise the yachties will have to sail and cope.

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