By JULIE ASH and PAUL YANDALL
A year after being forced to abandon their America's Cup yacht in the Hauraki Gulf, Kiwi skipper Chris Dickson and his Oracle racing team experienced a touch of deja vu yesterday morning.
The American syndicate's two yachts were training in 14-knot winds north of Onetangi
Bay, Waiheke Island, when one, with Dickson at the helm, lost its keel and rolled over.
Dickson was also at the helm last November when an Oracle yacht lost its keel and toppled over during training in the gulf.
As some of the crew perched on the hull and the half submerged boom yesterday, coastguard boats helped to stabilise the yacht and put in pumping equipment.
The yacht, USA49, was towed to Motutapu Island and was to be escorted back to the Viaduct Harbour last night or this morning.
Oracle spokeswoman Gina von Esmarch was overhead in a helicopter when the keel snapped.
"It slowly started going down. Most of the crew jumped on board the support boats. Only a few got wet trying to support the mast.
"Once the boat is back at the base the shore team will be able to better assess the time it will take to get USA49 back on the water."
She said the syndicate would try to retrieve the keel, which sank.
None of the Oracle crew were speaking publicly about the incident last night.
Auckland Coastguard duty officer Dean Lawrence said the weather and sea conditions were perfect for sailing early yesterday but deteriorated during the morning with winds in the gulf blowing more than 40 knots.
Oracle is the third syndicate to run into trouble in the gulf in the past two months.
Just last week, the mast broke on Team New Zealand's NZL57 and One World suffered the same fate last month on USA51.
