AMERICA’S CUP UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : Challenger Official Loses Part of Finger in Winch Accident

Ken Brooke, principal race officer and race controller for the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger trials, will be back on the job today after losing the end of his left index finger Monday.

Brooke was trying to free a jammed anchor winch on the committee boat when it severed the finger at the first knuckle. He was at a hospital within 45 minutes, treated and released.

Brooke, from Perth, Australia, is responsible for calling postponements and course changes on the challengers’ course.

Stan Reid, chairman of the Challenger of Record Committee, said, “He said when we played golf next week he’d have to get two extra strokes off his handicap.”

Nippon was left with a problem after its remarkable recovery from a broken boom Sunday: what to do with the carbon-fiber remains.

The Japanese boom broke 5 1/2 minutes before the start but they jury-rigged and lost to Il Moro di Venezia by only 1:53.

Skipper Chris Dickson said, “It’s like broken glass . . . gets everywhere, cuts everything in sight. There were carbon-fiber splinters everywhere, and we couldn’t grind the winches properly, so we decided it was dangerous to leave it on board.

“We talked about the ethics of discarding broken equipment and finally said, well, put it in the back of the boat. Then, with a little help from (navigator) Erle Williams, the boom slid off the back.”

The on-board TV camera showed Dickson smiling as the boom slipped into the sea. The Nippon chase boat picked it up within a minute to prevent it from becoming a hazard to navigation.

Il Moro skipper Paul Cayard said, “A couple guys on our crew said, ‘Hey, they just threw the boom over. Is that legal?’ I said, ‘Guys, if we can’t beat those guys without a boom, we don’t deserve to be in the finals.’ ”

Official Cup measurers Ken McAlpine and John Warren put in some more long hours checking the changes in two of the challengers’ boats Sunday night and Monday, when there was no racing. McAlpine wouldn’t say which two, but an educated guess would say New Zealand and Il Moro di Venezia.

McAlpine and Warren worked until nearly midnight Sunday and were back at 5:30 a.m. Monday.