Winston MacFarlane’s a useful bloke to have on board. So when the bowman fell overboard off the side of the Emirates Team New Zealand AC45, the rest of the team had to knuckle down and do their best to hang on to their lead.
It was during the big turn at the top mark that MacFarlane fell in. He’s the first official man overboard of the 34th America’s Cup cycle. “Probably not something to be proud of,” he smiled afterwards, although his tumble overboard did have mitigating circumstances.
“Unfortunately the winch handle broke while I was putting my full body weight on to it, so over I went. Luckily I didn’t hit the rudders, and I was going to be in the path of the other boats so I swam out of the way and our team chase boat picked me up.”
One of the big guys on the boat, MacFarlane’s power was certainly missed for the rest of the race as the Kiwis gradually saw their lead whittled away by ORACLE Racing Coutts. “I left the guys in a tough position. It’s tough enough sailing these boats with five guys, so it was going to be hard for them to defend the lead with four guys.”
But no hard feelings from the rest of the team. “No, Dean didn’t give me a hard time,” said MacFarlane. And he doesn’t reckon he’s going to be the only crewman to fall overboard off an AC45. “I think it’s going to happen quite a bit,” he said.
From : America's Cup
