Account of BMW’s bowman going for a quick swim.
C/o BYM
Americas Cup. BMW Oracle mid bowman describes the bloodbath Thursday, 05 April 2007 Working
in their precarious, narrowly defined world at the front of the boat,
America’s Cup foredeck crew face a host of hazards, one of the most
dreaded of which is falling overboard.
Yesterday,
as the fleet of yachts went through the mayhem of a dramatic weather
change during the final downwind leg of Race Three in the Louis Vuitton
Act 13 regatta, BMW ORACLE Racing mid-bowman Phil Jameson found himself
pitched into the sea as the spinnaker pole broke. The wind was close to
20 knots and had just gone through a massive shift in direction, which
left the yacht heeling heavily and overpowered. The crew was in the
process of hoisting a genoa headsail and dropping the spinnaker.
Jameson was up at the forestay, the narrowest part of the boat, helping
with the sail change when disaster struck.
“We
had a bit of a scurry on,” said Jameson, whose team nickname is
‘Blood’. “Suddenly the spinnaker pole failed. I don’t know exactly what
hit me, but I got slammed in the back. It was either the fore guy, the
brace or the pole. Next minute I was watching the yacht going by as I
was thrown into the water. “I heard Brad Webb (bowman) yell, Get Blood!
Blood is gone!”
Despite
the sudden dunking, Jameson reacted very quickly. “The spinnaker was
flogging, but I could see three ropes trailing in the water and I just
grabbed at them. It was tough hanging on. With the boat going at 10
knots or more, you just get dragged straight under the water. It didn’t
feel cold at the time, but it was pretty cold about 20 minutes after it
happened.”
Apart
from the obvious safety concerns, a man overboard has serious strategic
implications as well. Under the rules, if the crew is able to recover
the man from the water without any outside assistance, they can resume
racing without any penalty. If, however, the team chase boat – which is
always in attendance – makes the rescue, the yacht has to execute a
penalty turn. Because of the congestion in a fleet race, the chase boat
is not allowed to put the man back on board. In the more usual match
race format, the man can be returned to the yacht, but the penalty
still applies. Even as he struggled in the water, Blood was thinking
about the penalty and determined to hang on for grim life.
Meanwhile,
in the middle of the boat, where the powerhouse grinders go about their
business, Rodney Daniel was head down and spinning the handles with
fellow grinder Brian MacInnes to hoist the genoa. “I heard the pole
break,” said Daniel. “All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye, I
saw a head pop up in the water next to the boat. I reached over and
managed to get hold of him and hauled him in close to the boat.
“I
made one attempt to heave him back, but didn’t quite make it. Next
minute I saw another hand reach over (it was Sean Clarkson) and we got
him back on board. It was all over in seconds. Blood didn’t say a word.
We all had a bit on and just got back to work.” Said Blood: “They just
grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and my harness and dragged me on. I
ran straight back to the bow and carried on.”
Jameson
has had similar dunkings before, once when a mast broke and a couple of
times during testing. This was the first time he took a swim during a
race. “I guess it is just an occupational hazard,” he said.
Inevitably,
the wags will refer to it as a ‘Bloodbath’, but notoriously
superstitious sailors might also wonder if he was tempting fate: His
team sailing number is 13 and he was competing in Act 13.