Although attendance has been thin down on the Northern waterfront where the first of the America's Cup practice races have been hitting the water this week. The early runs did, however, bring out at least one extremely excited catamaran fanatic who plunged in to the San Francisco Bay to get a closer look at the 45-footers the teams have been using (and sinking) in practice.

The yachting fanatic, who appears to be an otherwise sensible person, inexplicably jumped off a pier at Fort Mason fully clothed and wearing sensible shoes around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon and tried to paddle out to the sailors. Unfortunately for his hopes of boarding an AC45 racing yacht, he was plucked out of the Bay and got a tour of a Coast Guard vessel instead.

The Coast Guard turned him over to SFPD, who made sure the Fire Department got him properly restrained to a gurney and loaded in to an ambulance. He was apparently not as excited about this part, because he reportedly struggled against his restraints and "was grunting loudly." Authorities suspect he might have been under the influence of something other than yachting fever.

Anyhow, the boating enthusiast ended up not getting a trip to the brig. According to an SFPD spokesman, he was dropped off a local hospital where he underwent a mental health evaluation.

Previously: Nobody's Watching The America's Cup Preliminary Regatta
All America's Cup coverage on SFist.
[SFEx]