It’s fall over for Team
Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA are accustomed to matching each other’s every move but that imitation reached a whole new level yesterday.
The rivals and leaders in the America’s Cup World Series both capsized on a spectacular start to racing at Chicago, sending crew members scrambling into the Lake Michigan water.
After opening the practice day with two fleet races in puffy conditions, the real drama began in the match race when Team New Zealand flipped their AC45 while leading Oracle into a tight bottom mark.
Helmsman Peter Burling had shown his class in getting the better of Jimmy Spithill in the pre-start to lead Oracle around first mark.
The Kiwi team maintained their advantage for much the race before the boat wound up and tipped over directly in front of the Navy Pier crowd.
Team New Zealand came off the foils, crashed down hard and rolled into a capsize, with some crew members falling off the boat or, like skipper Glenn Ashby, jumping off the top hull.
“We were going through a normal gybe, both rudders ventilated and I got ejected,” Burling said. “These boats are pretty hard to sail and every now and then you get them wrong.
“You have to push hard and certainly against Oracle you don’t want to take your foot off the accelerator, so these things can happen. It’s all part of the learning. It’s what training days are for so we will check the boat tonight and get it back in the water and be ready.”
The boat certainly seemed in Catch up on this morning’s America’s Cup racing at nzherald.co.nz/sport decent shape as Team New Zealand rejoined the competition for the final fleet race of the day just 15 minutes later, in which they edged Oracle after the Americans endured their own mishap.
Oracle were well back of the leaders and appeared to have been surprised by Artemis Racing approaching with rights. As Spithill rolled into a quick manoeuvre to avoid collision, the team didn’t have time to let off one of the lines, pinning the wing sail on the wrong side of the boat and causing it to turn over.
“We just didn’t see Artemis going upwind,” said Oracle tactician Tom Slingsby. “We were lighting up our gybe on the layline and then saw Artemis at the last second. Jimmy [Spithill] did the right thing and turned up to avoid them but unfortunately we capsized.