American Magic capsizes

American Magic say capsizing their America’s Cup yacht ‘‘was always going to happen’’.

The syndicate, backed by the powerful New York Yacht Club, confirmed to Stuff they went over on their side during training on their AC75 Defiant in Auckland last Sunday. Skipper and executive director Terry Hutchinson said the capsize came ‘‘going at pace’’ in brisk winds.

There were no injuries or damage, and they were able to resume training, testimony to their systems and the safety element in the design of the radical foiling monohull that is reaching speeds nearing 50 knots.

‘‘It was always going to happen,’’ Hutchinson told Stuff as he spoke about the incident for the first time.

He said while this was their first capsize in the full-sized 75-footer, they had become well versed in tipping over in their half-scaled test boat, ‘‘The Mule’’, during testing and training in the United States. ‘‘The best part about it was we’d done it 19 times in our Mule. We righted the boat, did a systems check and a rig check and sailed for another two hours after the fact.

‘‘It wasn’t nearly as impressive as some of the wipeouts I’ve had on a traditional monohull.

‘‘It was just another day at work. But, like I’ve said, we had plenty of experience of those with The Mule.’’

It’s the second capsize of an AC75 after defenders Team New Zealand put Te Aihe on its side in the inner harbour last December in what was something of a slowmotion roll.

‘‘We were going at pace, for sure. At the same time the boat decelerates, so it does happen in slow motion,’’ Hutchinson said.

‘‘You are tuned into everything. In the leeward side, our biggest concern is the guys underneath the mainsail and making sure everyone stays safe which they did.’’