Oracle crew unscathed in capsize
Oracle Team USA has escaped any serious damage after capsizing its new America’s Cup Class boat during training run on Bermuda’s Great Sound yesterday.
The America’s Cup defenders reported no crew members were injured and early indications were that the damage to the boat was relatively minor.
Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill said the team went straight from sailing mode to recovery mode, and were able to right the 50-ft catamaran in 10 minutes.
“All the guys are good. We went straight into our righting procedure, pulled the boat up, and brought it back to the dock,” he said.
“Now, we have to go through the process of checking the boat out. The top of the wing has some flap damage, but we have the team to get us back out on the water and we’ll be back out to finish off this race period with the rest of the teams.”
The team expects to be sailing tomorrow, when the next “race period” resumes, a three-day session where teams are allowed to train in an organised manner in their new America’s Cup Class boats.
Spithill described yesterday’s incident as a ‘soft’ capsize, with the boat going over sideways relatively slowly as opposed to when the bows dig in at speed. This would have helped to limit the damage, if not the frustration.
“It is frustrating,” he admitted. “But the fact is, this is a real possibility in these boats.
“We have to go back through and figure out what led to it. But that’s all part of the learning process. It’s usually from these sorts of incidents where you learn the most.”
Yesterday’s incident follows a heart-stopping near-miss in last week’s practise racing against Artemis, with Oracle coming close to capsizing at high speed after losing control in a maneouvre.
The boat hung precariously on one hull, but the crew were able to quickly depower the boat and prevent it from tipping over completely.
Swedish challenger Artemis also suffered damage earlier this month when they dropped the wingsail on their test boat.
The team have not clarified how the incident occurred.