Team New Zealand Can’t Snap Out of It

With a groan and a crack, Team New Zealand’s mast came tumbling down, the latest America’s Cup nightmare for a sailing crew that used to be perfect.

The two-time defending champion Kiwis were knocked out of Race 4 today when their 110-foot carbon-fiber mast snapped during a squall and fell into the rough Hauraki Gulf.

Alinghi of Switzerland, leading from the start, sailed alone around the rest of the six-leg, 18.5-nautical mile course to take a 4-0 lead in the best-of-nine series. Alinghi needs one more win to take the America’s Cup back to Europe for the first time in 152 years, and to a landlocked country at that.

The Kiwis won the last two America’s Cup matches -- both by 5-0 sweeps -- with design breakthroughs, but they have been knocked out of two of the four races in this cup because of breakdowns. A boat that was thought to be fast this time because of a radical hull appendage called a “hula” has instead fallen apart twice in front of a shocked nation.

Sailing the upwind third leg in heavy seas left over from two days of gale-force wind, the 80-foot carbon-fiber NZL-82 buried its bow into two successive waves less than halfway through the race. America’s Cup sloops are under tremendous loads, and as NZL-82 came out of the second wave, the $500,000 mast broke about 30 feet above the deck and dragged the rigging over the left side of the boat.

Three sailors were knocked overboard, but they clung to the wreckage and were pulled back on board.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but New Zealand skipper Dean Barker was heard calling to crewmen to save themselves before they thought of the boat.

“When I saw the boat hit those two waves, I thought, ‘Oh my God, something’s got to give,’ and something did,” Team New Zealand head Tom Schnackenberg said.

He said New Zealand would fit a replacement mast, taken from its reserve boat overnight, and would be ready to sail the fifth race on Saturday.

“The guys just have to put it behind them,” Schnackenberg said. “As you can imagine, they are very, very annoyed and disappointed. They were in the race and the boat was getting along OK. They had raced pretty well up to that point, and so we’ll have to take the positives out of it, forget about it and get ready to race again tomorrow.”

With a great deal of cursing, it took the crew several minutes to secure the rigging and use knives to cut away the mainsail, which is as big as a Boeing 747 wing.

The crippled yacht was towed back into port with the top of the mast still sticking into the water at an odd angle. A saw was brought on board and a crewman began cutting into the tangle of wires.

Team New Zealand snapped two masts during training last year.

Race 4 had been delayed six times over the previous nine days, and today’s conditions were the heaviest so far in the regatta. The wind was 19 knots at the start, with gusts up to 26.

Alinghi was leading by about three lengths when the Kiwi mast came down.

Alinghi’s New Zealand-born skipper, Russell Coutts, extended his record by winning his 13th straight race in the America’s Cup match. He led Team New Zealand to its landmark win over Dennis Conner off San Diego in 1995 and its successful defense against Italy’s Prada Challenge in 2000.

*

America’s Cup

TEAM NEW ZEALAND VS. ALINGHI

Best-of-nine series

Alinghi of Switzerland leads, 4-0

Schedule (U.S. dates)

Race 5 -- Today

Races 7, 8, 9 -- TBA *

Race 6 -- Monday *

* If necessary