Yachting: Tough Nippon veteran keeps smiling through

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Nippon bowman Toshiki Shibata got his Christmas wish - two front teeth.

The veteran America's Cup sailor, who was almost killed when he was smashed in the face by a spinnaker pole, grins proudly and taps his new ivories.

Shibata, aged 34, describes his health as "close to normal" now, two months after he was knocked unconscious on the bow of Japanese yacht Asura in the first round of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series.

He is back sailing on the new Nippon yacht, Idaten - surprisingly without fear of being injured again, even though he is well aware how lucky he was to survive.

Shibata recalls nothing of the accident, where he was knocked out cold, his jaw broken, his nose rearranged and his two upper front teeth lost.

"I'm not afraid to go back, because I don't remember anything," he says, attempting a little English but eventually turning to an interpreter.

"All I remember was waking up on the rubber boat."

Shibata, a survivor of Japan's first America's Cup campaign in 1992, still suffers discomfort in his upper jaw. "When I eat something hard like an apple, I take caution," he says.

And he still has to visit the dentist. "Unfortunately they found a cavity in a tooth next to it so they are working on that," he laughs.

During his time in recovery, Shibata received plenty of sympathy from rival cup campaigns along Syndicate Row.

Stars & Stripes bowman Geordie Shaver gave him a special harness clip, America True sent flowers and Prada gifted a t-shirt bearing the crew's well-wishes. Team New Zealand bowman Joey Allen, who Shibata says taught him how to sail cup boats, checked up on him.

It was not an easy recovery. He was light-headed for weeks after, and struggled to keep on his feet for long periods.

But skipper Peter Gilmour credits some of Nippon's good form in the early stages of round three to Shibata's return to the sailing crew.

"I was able to go back into a good atmosphere - the boat and the team's condition were very good. So it was easier to get back into work as normal," says Shibata.

Shibata, who works in marketing for the Japanese postal service, has a wry sense of humour. After his return to the boat, he turned up to the daily media conference wearing a white helmet (belonging to the base's crane driver) with a red cross painted on the front.

But he has not worn any protective headgear since his accident, and has no plans to.

"I think it's okay to have helmets if they are comfortable. But I don't think I would use one. I don't like wearing anything I don't have to - I won't even wear a watch on the boat."

The only other injury he has suffered in his 13-year sailing career was during the 1991 America's Cup dress rehearsal in San Diego, where he tore ligaments in his left knee.

Shibata will spend Christmas Day with other members of the syndicate. His wife and 5-year-old son are still in Japan.