Yachting: Farmyard find rises above calamities

By SUZANNE MCFADDEN

SYDNEY - Gavin Brady and Jamie Gale found their Olympic boat in a farmyard barn - where it was home to a flock of chickens.

Since the dirty old vessel arrived in Sydney, the Kiwi sailors' Olympic campaign has been a chain of calamities that has almost broken their hearts.

It started when the two America's Cup yachties decided a month ago they needed a different Star boat if they were going to win a medal at the Olympics. The only boat they could find in a hurry had sat in a barn in New Jersey for two years.

"When we went to pick it up, it was covered in hay and full of chickens," Brady laughed. "We had to move a goat out of the way to get it out, and then it got stuck in a bog."

When it arrived in Rushcutters Bay, home of the Olympic regatta, the real problems started.

The boom did not fit, so they sent an emergency request to Philadelphia for a new one. When it arrived late last week, they found it lying crushed at Sydney airport, where a forklift had driven over it.

"That was my lowest point," Brady said. "I sat there with my head in my hands - all our work and effort had come to this."

But Team New Zealand head Tom Schnackenberg came to their rescue. An assistant coach for the Olympic sailing team, Schnackenberg took the $4000 battered boom to a friend, who welded up the 45cm gash in its side.

"It's not pretty, but we've just got to hope it holds together through the Olympics," Gale said.

While it was being fixed, the Kiwis borrowed a boom from the English crew, and set off to sea for the first time in their new, old boat - at four years old it is a veteran of the Olympic fleet.

"But it was like, 'Oh no.' Nothing worked," said Brady. "It was like we were just wasting our time. I said, 'Let's go back in' - but halfway back I thought, 'Hang on a minute' ... so we turned around and won the next two races."

Gale and Brady giggle when they remember their matchrace against the well-drilled Spanish, who have two pristine white yachts with a fleet of rubber boats alongside.

"We knocked the stuffing out of them. You should have seen the coach's face when we pulled our boat out of the water afterwards - all yellow after years in the barn, the keel still covered with mud from the bog," said Gale. "It just broke them."

Adds Brady: "They treat their boats like pianos. And we're rough as guts."

The Kiwis like being that way. They have been sailing Stars for only the past six months, and their casual attitude, mixed with their stunning ability in the boat, has taken the Olympic sailing world by surprise.

They led the world championships - one of their first regattas together - until the final two days, and then won the North American championships from the world champion Americans before heading to Sydney.

But coping with the Olympics red tape has been "pretty tough."

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