Prada Cup capsize was more serious than first revealed

By Ivor Wilkins In the immediate aftermath of American Magic’s spectacular Prada Cup capsize, the first reaction was one of relief that nobody was injured, followed by celebration at the way the America’s Cup community and emergency responders leaped to assist the stricken team back to safety.

What did not emerge in the drama of the recovery operation was that skipper Terry Hutchinson had been trapped underwater as the boat rapidly took on water through the large impact hole in the hull.

Two of his crewmates dived down to cut him free as he struggled for air.

Hutchinson was harnessed into his grinding position on the immersed port side of the yacht. “When I did not manage to release the harness clips on my first attempt, I went for my knife,” he says. “I managed to cut through the strap on the windward side, but I could not get to the leeward strap. I was in a seriously compromised situation.”

Once everybody else swam free of the boat, two grinders, Maciel Cicchette and Cooper Dressler realised Hutchinson was in trouble. Cicchette pushed Hutchinson up from underneath, releasing the pressure on the strap to enable Dressler to cut through the lashing.

“I don’t know how long I was under the water,” Hutchinson says, “but it felt like an eternity. My mistake was not to go for my air cylinder first (all the Cup sailors are equipped with small personal oxygen cylinders for these emergencies).

“I got the sequencing wrong. We had been trained that if this situation arose, you always go for the air first and the knife second.

“The first time you miss an opportunity to get air in your lungs and get water instead, it is unnerving,” says Hutchinson. Even in the retelling weeks after the event, the obvious understatement does nothing to conceal how shocking the experience was.

“I am very glad it was me,” he adds. “I felt a big responsibility to the crew and would not have wanted anybody else to go through that.”

Hutchinson did not require medical attention and was quickly back at the heart of the recovery operation. “Once I got the water out of my system, I was back swimming around trying to grab buoys or anything that would help prop up the boat.

“It was a long night. After nursing the boat back to the base, I went home about 1am and was back at the base very early next morning. The effect of adrenalin and shock is powerful.”

Later that morning, Hutchinson addressed a media conference, patiently answering questions and graciously acknowledging the support and assistance the team had received. He did not reveal the seriousness of his personal situation.

A couple of days after the capsize, the team had a retraining session at an Auckland swimming pool. The trainers disoriented each sailor and then clipped him to a weight at the bottom of the pool. “I had to get the oxygen to my mouth and find a way out. It was tough to do. Even in that controlled situation, the panic level was about seven on a scale of 1-10,” Hutchinson recalls.

Since the launch of the AC75 class, several of the teams have experienced capsizes with little consequence. The motion is generally quite gentle with the boats quickly back upright and in business.

This was a much more violent event, with the Patriot launched high in the air and crashing down on its port side. Although the team mounted a massive 24/7 rebuild, drawing on assistance and expertise from the local marine industry and Emirates Team New Zealand, it was effectively the end of American Magic’s campaign.

Despite the heroic rebuild, American Magic’s post-capsize time in the shed left them in no position to counter the Italian crew in the semifinal. “Our optimism about making competitive improvement in that period was unrealistic,” Hurtchinson acknowledges. “The sad thing is that we never did get to answer the question of how competitive we really were. Luna Rossa made big improvements and clearly were a lot faster in the semi-final.”

Despite their disappointment, Hutchinson is a fan of the AC75 class. “You can’t help but be impressed that all four teams in this regatta ended up with similar speed in the first iteration of the class. So, it was a real sailing regatta. That is exciting.”

He noted that the previous IACC class took much longer to achieve a similar level of performance equality with largely one-sided results all the way from 1992 to 2007.

The obvious problem, however, was that the AC75 regatta only featured four teams, of which American Magic was the only new

entrant. The barriers for a new team were high. For a start, the three established teams made extensive use of highly-evolved simulation packages in developing their designs, while American Magic, without any data from the previous foiling cycles in 2013 and 2017, had no foundation on which to build an effective simulation program. They followed a more traditional development path with more time on the water than the other teams leading up to the regatta.

Hutchinson believes the Cup format needs to change to attract more teams and open a more sustainable future. He agrees retaining the AC75 class would be a start, creating a generation of proven boats for new teams to build on, but believes more fundamental change is required.

Calling for a neutral governance structure, he envisages a professional event management team presided over by a commissioner which would act in the interests of all the teams and the event.

Larry Ellison and Sir Russell Coutts tried something similar with their Framework Agreement during the 2017 Bermuda regatta, but Hutchinson says it was a mistake to introduce the concept midway through a cycle. It has to happen at the transition from one cycle to the next, so all the teams sign up for it.

“In 1970, the New York Yacht Club took a very brave step in allowing multiple challengers into the contest. They knew right then that their chances of losing the Cup had dramatically increased.

“And what a cool story it was when Australia II won the Cup in 1983 and then Dennis Conner went to Fremantle and won it back again.”

He believes that the four current teams, backed by yacht clubs representing the longest association with the Cup, present a unique opportunity to introduce change on a similar scale.

Any large-scale reform of the Cup structure would require the defender to give away much of what it acquires as reward for its success. Hutchinson believes that could be addressed by awarding each Cup winner hosting rights for the next two Cup regattas, which each cycle taking place every two years.

That would give the host venue at least four years and two regattas to achieve a return on investment.

“Somebody has to take the lead and this is a great opportunity for a bold step,” he says.

• After the conclusion of the 36th America’s Cup a statement from the Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, Christopher J. Culver expressed deep misgivings about some of the rumours around the sailing community about the venue and format of the 37th America’s Cup.

He revealed the club had circulated some ideas on what the Protocol might contain. “We are encouraged to see that, according to the press release from Emirates Team New Zealand, the Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup will incorporate at least some of the tenets of our vision, including stronger nationality rules, a commitment to multiple cycles in the same boat, a more powerful event authority, and cost-reduction measures.

“However, a Deed of Gift match off the Isle of Wight, as reported ... to be under consideration, would be a huge step in the wrong direction. The two previous Deed of Gift matches, in 1988 and 2010, were distinct low points in the history of the America’s Cup.

“Regardless of the conditions, the New York Yacht Club will not support a Deed of Gift match or an America’s Cup competition that is effectively open to only the Defender and Challenger of Record.”