KZ3 loses crewman overboard

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 32

KZ3 loses crewman overboard

NZPA staff correspondent Fremantle Despite a brilliant piece of seamanship to cleanly recover a crewman lost overboard in yesterday’s fifth heat of the world 12metre championships, Woody Woodroffe and the crew of KZ3 could be forgiven for believing the gods have got it in for them. The 13th held all the horrors for the New Zealand boat after she got away to such a clean start and was racing so well up with the leaders in the early stages. For Woodroffe, his crew and KZ3, this world championship has been one long unlucky break. It started just over a fortnight ago when her mast blew apart and went overboard during a Tuesday afternoon practice session between prechampionship invitation races. The replacement was a second-hand mast bought from one of the Italian syndicates, and that has given nothing but trouble. The cause was eventually traced to a check-stay tension ram high inside the mast, but until then nothing the New Zealanders could do seemed to get the boat right.

In race one, she broke a jumper—one of the small forked spreaders near the top of the mast. In race two, the mast bent at a soft spot twothirds of the way up, and only Woodroffe’s seamanship got her safely home. In race three the New Zealanders had their only respite when they went out with a patched and straightened mast and roared around the course for second place behind French Kiss. In race four KZ3 was recalled for jumping the start, then on the last leg the runner came away from the top of the new Australian mast and the mainsail car bent under the strain, forcing Woodroffe to send a man up to lash it all together. The crew hoped that all their woes were behind' them in yesterday’s race five, but on the second leg, a reach across the winds in boisterous conditions, a man went overboard, forcing the boat to pull out, go round and pick him out. The only consolation for Woodroffe and his crew was that the pick-up was a brilliant piece of work, made all the better by comparison to a similar exercise by America II on the next leg.