Yachting: Bowman raring to get back on black boats

By SUZANNE MCFADDEN

After two days in hospital, Team New Zealand bowman Joey Allen is ready to hit the America's Cup a better man.

The 42-year-old had surgery on his left elbow after it blew up like a balloon last weekend.

Allen does not remember the whack on the elbow which caused the huge swelling.

"You get a lot of knocks when you are up the mast all the time," he said.

"I call it bowmanitis. Just look at some of the other bowmen who get knocked around up there."

Allen went into hospital last Monday, had fluid drained from the arm and spent the next two days in a hospital bed.

He reckons it was the best prescription before going into the thick of the America's Cup battle.

"It's amazing how refreshed I feel," he said.

"When I came back the guys said I looked like I'd been to Club Med.

"It's been pretty tiring getting ready for this America's Cup, so the rest has done me good."

Allen, bowman on Black Magic in 1995, believes he will be fit enough to sail in the first Cup match against Prada on Saturday.

He missed a week of sailing last week, but will be back on the black boats when they return to sea today.

At the end of the day, Team New Zealand will choose which boat they will sail in the Cup.

The consensus is that they will go with NZL60, the second boat they have built for the Cup defence.