America’s Cup carnage likely to continue in Bermuda

Expect the carnage to continue – that’s the message from the men behind the wheels of the flying America’s Cup catamarans.

The buildup to the regatta has been dogged by unwanted incidents – crashes, capsizes, breakages and crew lost overboard.

That might increase as the regatta intensifies, warned the six helmsman when they fronted the opening media conference in Bermuda on Friday.

Cup organisers have already taken an early decision to postpone the opening day of racing from Saturday to Sunday (NZ time) because winds are forecasted to exceed the top safety limit of 24 knots for these temperamental boats which can foil at speeds approaching 90kmh.

"They are challenging boats to sail and just getting it around the course on your own is often difficult enough,’’ Australian Nathan Outteridge who helms the impressive Artemis Racing of Sweden said.

‘‘Throw another boat in the mix doing defensive manoeuvres in the prestart and it’s very easy to misjudge something by less than a foot and you end up touching.

‘‘I don’t think anything ever is intentional out there.

‘‘But you push hard and the further the competition goes on the higher the risk becomes, the harder people are going to push and I think we’ll see plenty of action towards the end of the month.’’

Ben Ainslie ramming Team New Zealand during a prestart to a practice race last week has been the most costly of the early mishaps, forcing the Kiwis into four days of repairs.

‘‘I’m sure it’s not going to get less,’’ Team Japan’s Dean Barker said of boats and crew pushing the limits.

‘‘Interesting that there have been accusations of deliberate damage out there.

‘‘But I think we are going to see as people are pushing the boats harder and harder it’s going to get closer and closer, so there is going to be plenty of action.’’

Team France skipper Franck Cammas said ‘‘we are on the edge’’.

Team New Zealand’s Peter Burling backed that up, saying: ‘‘I think everyone has seen how close the racing is getting and how good all the teams are getting at handling their boats and getting that nth degree out of their equipment.

‘‘It’s just something that’s going to keep getting tighter and tighter.

‘‘You saw exactly the same in the last America’s Cup where the racing kept getting tighter and tighter as the competition went on and as everyone learns how hard they can push these boats.

‘‘That’s all part of sport, there’s a lot on the line and everyone is going to be pushing.’’

Oracle’s Jimmy Spithill knows all about development through a regatta as he showed with his team’s remarkable comeback to defend the Cup from Team New Zealand in San Francisco four years ago.

‘‘The harder you push these boats the harder they go, it’s as simple as that,’’ Spithill said.

The question of what happens to boat damaged in racing by a collision from an opponent hangs heavy over this regatta which has such a tight racing schedule and will severely disadvantage any boat that is sidelined.

Spithill was questioned on exactly that but didn’t have an answer other than seeing it as a bit of hard luck that was all part of racing.

‘‘Everyone has one race boat. ‘‘A lot of us have spares (parts) and each team will have to deal with that on a case by case basis,’’ Spithill said.

‘‘But I think when you look at other sports it’s no different.

‘‘If a car gets hit, they get taken out on the first corner, it’s the same situation.’’

Spithill said it would place heat on the work of shore crews to engineer quick and effective repairs.