It’s the bear away that gets’em, and it was a bear away that got’em . . .
View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.
Here is the news release from the team:
SAN FRANCISCO – ORACLE TEAM USA 17 – the team’s AC72 racing yacht – capsized during training at approximately 3 pm PT today on San Francisco Bay. All crew and ORACLE TEAM USA team members are safe. It was the boat’s eighth day on the water since the launch in August.
Said tactician Tom Slingsby of the capsize:
“We called for a bear-away as we were out training. The winds were blowing about 25 knots, and there was strong ebb current at the time. We started the bear-away, and as the boat accelerated it pitch-poled.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen with the new boat. When the nose went down, the wing hit and a few guys went in the water. We were unsure if the wing would snap, so we all climbed off the boat.
“Luckily, everyone is accounted for and no one was hurt. The wing is pretty badly damaged, and we are working to get the boat back in position to return to Pier 80.”
The crew and boat will return to the team base at Pier 80 in San Francisco and assess the situation further.
3 Comments
Kimball, how many of these can be totaled before a team throws in the towel? Do you think this will have any bearing on the level of commitment by other teams? Carnage we expected, carnage we got… Thank you.
That they return to the water with fixed boat(s) is inevitable.
The question is: will there be a rules change allowing trimmable winglets for ‘safety reasons.’
Or is this just a ruse to keep the technical solution to the problem in the dark a bit longer.
I agree with Medea; Team Oracle will do whatever the need to do to get a fully functional AC 72 back on the water. In the bigger picture, yesterday’s events serve to emphasize the importance of anti-capsize technology for all the teams currently building and developing their 72s. Two consequences seem inevitable: 1) the team that with the best anti-capsize systems will have a significant advantage, and 2) the more sophisticated the technology, the more the role of skipper and crew will be diminished. The size and power of the 72s, and the fact that they will be racing for the auld mug itself, will give next year’s events a gravitas the AC World Series has lacked, but I think the AC 45s have already given us a more engaging competition than we can expect from the 72s.