Demolition derby in gulf

By Suzanne McFadden

Sailing in the America's Cup has come to an unprecedented standstill while crews work around the clock to repair badly broken boats.

In a move never before seen in the 150-year history of the regatta, racing in the first round of the Louis Vuitton Cup has been postponed until Wednesday to allow two boats to be mended after a demolition derby on the water on Saturday.

AmericaOne and the Swiss boat Be Happy were granted three days' break by the cup's international jury to fix their boats.

But race organisers decided to stop racing until all boats were fit to start again.

AmericaOne suffered severe damage to its transom when it was T-boned by Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes.

Skipper Paul Cayard was almost thrown overboard in the collision, but AmericaOne kept racing and won, even though pieces were falling off the back of the boat.

Stars & Stripes could continue to pay for their mistake today.

They will appear before the jury on a matter of failing to avoid a collision, and could be docked points for their pre-start error.

It was a day of disasters on the Hauraki Gulf.

The Swiss almost lost their mast when the backstay holding it up pulled away from the back of the boat, taking some of the transom with it.

Japan's Nippon and the Spanish challenger collided before crossing the startline, and both needed patching up yesterday.

The French syndicate Le Defi were furious with the delay.

The sooner the first round is over, the sooner they can make big changes to their less-than-convincing boat.

It was not only boats that were injured in a bizarre day at sea.

Spanish crewman Antonio Payeras injured his pride when he fell overboard during the race against Nippon and had to be rescued by a following boat.

And a mischievous dolphin jumped on board the French boat, leaving behind some skin and a dent in the spinnaker pole.