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SOME AMERICA'S CUP SAILORS CALL IT THE "DEATH ZONE." It is the tense and highly feared time when a sailboat each outing. As the afternoon's conditions worsperforms a turning maneuver during high winds. As ened, captain Jimmy Spithill made the decision to the boat turns, it is briefy squared directly into the turn downwind toward safer waters. During the wind, which transforms the sail into a giant domino bear away—sailingspeak for steering away from the just waiting to be knocked over. On a conventional wind—the AC72 pitchpoled, its bow nose-diving sailboat the "death zone" is easily minimized by downward, its stern catapulting upright, the massimply lowering the sails. But the new America's sive wing slamming into the water. Surprisingly, Cup AC72 boats are seventy-two-foot-long carbonnone of the crew were thrown overboard, but there fber catamarans with the traditional sails replaced was concern that the wing could buckle. The crew by solid, fxed wings towering over 130 feet above were ordered off the boat and into the frigid waters the water. The wings are designed to increase speed. of the bay as the team's chase boats approached to Simply because speed equals excitement and excitepick them up. All while the $10 million AC72 was ment might possibly turn the slowly pulled by the tide toward America's Cup into a televised the Golden Gate Bridge and sporting event to rival the Dayultimately out into the Pacifc. tona 500 and the Tour de France. After hours of being pounded But will the newly designed boats by an angry ocean, the wreckadd more excitement to the age of Oracle Team's AC72 was event or turn one of the world's eventually towed back to Pier 80 most expensive sports into one on San Francisco's waterfront. of the most dangerous? The enormous fxed wing was It was a chilly autumn afin pieces and the hulls were ternoon on the San Francisco damaged from the combination Bay. The wind was blowing at of the pounding water and the around twenty-fve knots, conwing breaking apart. The repair juring waves against a fendestimates ran upwards of $2 ishly strong ebb current. Some million, but with less than a year on-site described the conditions to go before the Cup, the real as "choppy"; others used more cost was time. The repairs began genteel terms such as "fresh." immediately and a new wing FIRST PRIZE On the water, sailing under a was delivered from New Zea— thirteen-story Oracle advertiseland in January 2013. Two major THE ment was the crew of Oracle boat-building projects were now AMERICA'S CUP TROPHY Team USA. It was October 2012 underway at Oracle Team USA, WAS ORIGINALLY AWARDED IN 1851 BY THE ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON and billionaire Larry Ellison's the repairs to the wrecked AC72 FOR A RACE AROUND THE ISLE OF WIGHT team was in their eighth day of and also the construction of a IN ENGLAND, WHICH WAS testing the newly designed AC72, second boat that would serve as a WON BY THE SCHOONER AMERICA. pushing it harder and faster with "plan B" in case of another crash. — Fall 2013 . Tempus-Magazine.com 71 JIMMY SPITHILL OF ORACLE TEAM USA IS DRESSED IN STANDARD ISSUE SAFETY GEAR FOR THE AMERICA'S CUP RACE