Yachting: US camp looking tattered and battered

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

The lights are on well into the early morning at the AmericaOne base, as the team toil to put their boat back in one piece.

The riggers are labouring to rebuild AmericaOne's best mast, badly damaged in the heavy seas of the Hauraki Gulf on Saturday.

Bent over the sewing machines are the sailmakers. The lime green, $100,000-a-piece, spinnakers are the bane of their lives - they keep exploding.

AmericaOne have torn eight kites in 44 races in the Louis Vuitton Cup, losing two in the last two days against Prada.

The Italians, on the other hand, survived two demanding days unscathed - their boat intact and two wins richer.

AmericaOne skipper Paul Cayard is concerned about the rig - he has no spares and had to take the mast out of his old boat, USA49, for yesterday's race. But he says he is not losing sleep over the spinnakers.

It seems a mystery why they continue to rip and explode, in strong winds and light, yet Prada's sails hold together.

One difference, Cayard says, is AmericaOne's kites are made from giving nylon, while the Italians have used "cuban" fibre.

The cuban fibre - or spectra cloth - was created in 1992 for the winning America3 campaign. It is a more expensive material, but as Cayard is finding out, much more reliable.

"It's really solid - it's not going to break. And it's a weapon that Prada have," he said "Today ours broke because we overloaded it. Half of them have broken by getting stuck in the hatch, or they had a little hole in them.

"But it's not something to get a complex about."

The mast aside, Cayard has also been worried about his crewmen, who ended up worse for wear after the weekend.

Bowman Greg Prussia was resting at home yesterday after being taken to hospital with severe leg bruising just before Saturday's race. AmericaOne later withdrew during the race for fear their mast might break.

Prussia was hurt while at the top of the mast trying to fix a broken halyard when he smashed into the rig.

He will need another check-up tomorrow before he can be cleared to sail again.

But midbowman Curtis Blewitt, who cut his head at the same time, and trimmer Moose McClintock - smacked in the back when the towline pulling the boat snapped - were sailing again in yesterday's race.

Cayard said all three sailors were lucky to be alive, after two races they would all like to forget.