Titanic effort to save yacht

By Suzanne McFadden

Team New Zealand sailors tore off their shirts and formed a bucket brigade to save their America's Cup-winning black boat from sinking in the Hauraki Gulf yesterday.

Black Magic II began taking on water a few miles north of Rangitoto Island when her rudder broke loose.

The crew of the boat, one of the two in which New Zealand won the cup in 1995, heard a bang and rushed below deck, finding themselves knee-deep in water.

Team New Zealand designer Tom Schnackenberg, who was on board, said it was all hands below deck to stop the boat from going under.

"The water was coming in pretty fast. The boys took their shirts off and we were chucking them around the hole to try to plug it up," he said.

"We had the bucket brigade going and we were using our drink pump, which makes fresh water, to try to empty it out."

The Coastguard came to the rescue with three larger pumps and the police launch Deodar arrived with another.

"If we hadn't been able to stop the water coming in, we would have sunk pretty easily," Schnackenberg said.

"If the hull was weaker around the rudder we would have been in a lot more trouble."

The boats had done many miles and although they were well-maintained, the equipment would eventually wear out.

Black Magic II, or NZL38, had been racing against the other black boat, NZL32, Black Magic I.

Crewman Barry McKay said no one was sure what had happened. Three of the crew dived into the sea to find out and eventually removed the broken rudder.

"There's a possibility that we hit something. We couldn't move the boat because the rudder was flopping around, damaging the bottom of the boat," he said.

Once the seawater was drained, Team New Zealand towboats took the yacht back to the America's Cup Village at the Viaduct Basin. Two inflatable chase boats flanked her on the slow trip home.

Black Magic II is likely to be out of the water for repairs for the next two days.

SINKING FEELING: Black Magic II being towed back to shore. HERALD PICTURE / KENNY RODGER