Island sailor Dewey's bid for historic America's Cup glory ends in “catastrophic failure”

Island sailor Dewey's bid for historic America's Cup glory ends in “catastrophic failure” Swedish boat tops qualifying round Cleve Dheensaw Oct 8, 2024 10:20 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message The Canadian boat Concord Pacific Racing during training last week. TOM HAWKER PHOTO Listen to this article 00:03:51 Island sailor Maura Dewey’s dreams in the America’s Cup competition off Barcelona dove nose-first into the Mediterranean, but not before she sailed into history, as part of the first women’s race in the 173 years of the venerable event. What was described by the Canadian team, known corporately as Concord Pacific Racing, as a “catastrophic mechanical failure,” caused the boat to suffer a sudden and severe dive, plunging it into the water at speeds of more than 30 knots, in the qualifying-round race Tuesday.

“The whole foil hydraulics basically exploded,” said Dewey, who hails from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. “It sounded like we had hit something, a log or whale, I don’t know,” added Dewey, in her post-race media interview. Dewey is the Canadian crew’s Starboard trimmer.

The other crewmembers are captain Isabella Bertold of Vancouver, Olympians Mariah Millen of Toronto and Ali Ten Hove of Kingston, Ont., and alternate Maggie Drinkwater of ­Vancouver. The jarring stop narrowly avoided a capsize, according to the team, which added: “It was a cruel blow for a team that had poured their .