Skipper Tom Slingsby and the defending SailGP champion Australian crew capsized the U.S. team’s foiling 50-foot catamaran on Bermuda’s Great Sound on Friday during its first training session for the global tour’s season opener. Slingsby said there were only minor injuries, and the boat was quickly righted before being towed back to base. U.S. skipper Jimmy Spithill said there was enough damage.
That the high-tech boat could be out of action for a few days, the Australians were using the U.S. boat because their catamaran was still being set up for the regatta on April 24-25, opening the pandemic-delayed second season. Spithill said the plan was for teams to share boats until the entire eight-boat fleet was on the water. He said the U.S. and British crews followed the Australians using the American ship on Friday.
Slingsby said the Aussies were on the first lap of their first official session in 14 months when the boat capsized while going 45 knots in the wind of about 25 knots, with gusts up to 35 knots. The six-man crew was suspended high above the water in the cockpit in the starboard hull. The ship rolled over onto its port hull, with the tip of its 79-foot (24-meter) wing sail resting on the water.
“I guess this capsize shows how important it is for us to get out there and do some training before the event starts,” Slingsby said in a phone interview. “Especially after a 14-month layoff, we’re all going to make mistakes.”
While some of the crews have come straight from America’s Cup in New Zealand, Slingsby said his team has been relatively isolated in Australia due to the coronavirus pandemic and hasn’t been able to do any racing. He skippered his team to the inaugural championship 2019 and the $1 million winner-take-all prize.
British sailing star Sir Ben Ainslie won the opening regatta of the second season in Sydney in February 2020, but those results were voided when the rest of the season was postponed due to the pandemic.
Spithill said the first reaction is always hoping that no one gets hurt “because of the speeds you’re traveling now, they were going very fast out there. You’re competitors, but most of those guys I’ve won America’s Cups with won many races and are perfect mates with all the Aussie guys.”
Spithill is an Australian who makes his permanent home in San Diego with his American wife and two sons.
Spithill said that in the top end of the wind range, “the boats are a handful. Those guys are the defending champions, so it must have been pretty tough for them to go over.” That proved it.
Spithill said he wouldn’t be surprised to see more than one capsize between now and the end of the regatta. “You’ve got the throttle down,” he said.
Spithill and Slingsby were crewmates with Oracle Team USA when it won America’s Cup in 2013 on San Francisco Bay and then lost it in 2017 in Bermuda. Spithill was co-helmsman of the Italian team that lost the America’s Cup match to Emirates Team New Zealand last month.
“It’s not ideal capsizing and damaging someone else’s boat, but he understands how it is,” Slingsby said. “I think we owe him a few alcoholic presents and thank-yous, but we’re going to be there helping wherever needed and getting their boat on the water as quickly as possible.”
Said Spithill: “They better be cold. They better be high-end beers, too. No cheap light beers.
“Until our boat’s ready to go, we’ll borrow the Australian boat,” Spithill said. “I’m looking forward to going on the Australian boat.”
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