Yachting: Nippon sailor suffers head injuries

By Suzanne McFadden

Nippon sailor Toshiki Shibata lay unconscious and bleeding on the bow of Asura yesterday, the first casualty of the America's Cup.

Shibata, a veteran of three Cup regattas, was smashed in the head by the spinnaker pole as Nippon closed in on the finish-line in their win over Young Australia.

Last night he was in Auckland Hospital, suffering from a suspected broken nose and broken jaw.

He had lost a string of teeth and was being checked for spinal injuries.

It has been over 100 years since a sailor died during an America's Cup race.

But Spanish crewman Martin Wizner was killed earlier this year when he was hit in the head by a piece of gear during a training sail on the Mediterranean.

Nippon's first racing boat, Asura, was two-and-a-half minutes ahead of the Australians, rounding the top mark for the last time, when the accident happened.

The clip that holds the spinnaker pole up snapped open and the pole crashed down, hitting Shibata.

Nippon skipper Peter Gilmour said Shibata fell straight to the deck as nearby crew rushed over to him.

"He was knocked unconcious immediately," Gilmour said.

"We got on the radio straight away to our chase boat who came to pick him up. The rules say you can evacuate an injured sailor during a race."

On board Nippon's rescue boat was Gilmour's father, Bill, an Australian orthopaedic surgeon.

He took care of Shibata on the 40-minute trip back to the downtown dock, where an ambulance was waiting, and travelled with him to the hospital.

"He's quite coherent now," Peter Gilmour said. "But it was a very painful accident to happen, something you certainly never want to happen.

"He is a really good sailor - he's a good kid. He is one of the originals from Japan's first America's Cup campaigns in 1992."

It was a difficult day all round for Nippon, one of the pre-regatta favourites, but who have won only two of their six races in the first round-robin. Earlier in the day they lost to Dennis Conner's boat after getting their spinnaker wrapped first around Stars & Stripes and then the marker buoy - incurring two penalties, and losing their fourth straight race.

There was better news at the Young America camp next door - their hospital visit was for a happier reason.

Tactician Jim Brady missed yesterday's race to be with his wife, Olympic bronze medallist Julia Brady, for the birth of their first child - 7lb 1oz Lila Channing Brady.

Brady's absence meant that Young America's syndicate head John Marshall got to race on his own boat for the first time.

It was also the first time nine-times Cup veteran Marshall had sailed in an America's Cup race since 1987 - on the boat he helped to design, Cup winner Stars & Stripes.

Marshall, who worked as a grinder yesterday, said he could not believe the change in the yachts in the last four years.

"They are so incredible - a huge step forward from '95," he said. "They are all slender, sleek and beautiful to sail.

And I finally got to sail one."