American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson has revealed for the first time the life-threatening situation he found himself in during their dramatic America’s Cup capsize, needing to be cut free by a crew member to get to safety.
The high speed capsize of Patriot remains one of the most vivid memories of Auckland 2021, with the United States team losing control of their boat during a tricky manoeuvre rounding the top mark for the final time in a round-robin race against Italians Luna Rossa in the Prada Cup challenger series.
So much emphasis was placed on the need to save the AC75 from sinking after it suffered a large hole in its hull ,that the danger to the 11 sailors on board was almost overlooked.
But it was clearly an alarming time for Hutchinson who was on the side of the boat that was instantly under water.
The vastly experienced Hutchinson, 52, opened up on his dangerous situation in the just-released Last Call video produced by the regatta organisers that wraps up their coverage of the summer of sailing in Auckland.
Hutchinson said his most vivid memory of the incident was when Kiwi helmsman Dean Barker yelled out “I’ve lost the rudder” as the boat was hit by a 23.5 knot gust as they went through the bear away. Hutchinson knew they were in trouble, and he quickly found himself in the most danger of all as he couldn’t free himself from the cockpit.
“I’m basically clipped into the boat, so I went to eject myself out of the boat and my clip didn’t come undone which straight away got my cackles up,” Hutchinson told Last Call.
“So I went for my knife … the cockpit filled up straight away, and it very quickly went from everything’s okay to a pretty high fever from my perspective because straight away I was under water and under the mainsail.”
As crew members scrambled to safety, Hutchinson said grinder Cooper Dressler “went by me, and he could see my head was under water and I was trapped”.
“Cooper grabbed his knife and cut the left one (clip) and got me out.
“From there all four of us popped out from under the mainsail, and we did the head count and everybody was safe.”
Hutchinson said it instantly became apparent that Patriot had suffered some major damage and “it very quickly went to a rescue operation for the boat”.
“There was one air pocket keeping it afloat. We all thought the boat was going to sink,” Hutchinson said, adding it took 16 pumps to save the expensive boat with help from all three rival teams and emergency services.
American Magic, again with help from the other teams, managed to repair Patriot in time to sail the Prada Cup semifinals, but they were soundly beaten by Luna Rossa.
Hutchinson said reviews of the capsize showed the precarious position they had found themselves in, and he wasn’t surprised at the damage that was done.
“In that situation the boat is designed for a certain amount of impact, but having watched and looked at the pictures I can tell you we were well beyond the threshold,” he told Last Call.
American Magic, backed by the New York Yacht Club, are keen to stay involved in the America’s Cup.
They are waiting on details of the next edition as defender Team New Zealand and new challenger of record Team UK work on details to move the boats and the regatta forward from the success of Auckland 2021.
