The second race on day 3 of the Prada Cup provided plenty of action as American Magic suffered a spectacular capsize while heading for their first Prada series race win.
The New York YC team were hit by a vicious squall as they rounded mark 5 with a 27 sec lead ahead of Luna Rossa.
As they bore-away round the mark at 31 knots they appeared to be okay . . . but when the squall hit, they took off in the now typical AC75 bow high stance, the rudder cavitated, and uncontrolled they flew high off the water then crashed down.
Still unable to release their mainsail because the leeward running backstay was not released, they then capsized.
All crew are safe and chase boats were quickly on the scene.
Patriot was damaged during the incident and began taking on water and threatening to sink.
Patriot has been stabilized with pumps and bouyancy and towed slowly back to shore, and is now in their shore base. The hull appears to be holed on the port side near the foil arm area.
Meanwhile Luna Rossa arrived at the mark some 35 sec later and carried on past, well clear of the mark and American Magic, before completing a very careful bear-away.
American Magic immediatly retired and Luna Rossa was awarded the race win.
After the capsize of American Magic this afternoon, America’s Cup Event Ltd and the Syndicate themselves activated emergency management plans.
All syndicates assisted, with coastguard in attendance and being coordinated from the On Water Operations Centre.
American Magic thanked them for all of the assistance rendered to the team following today’s incident.
In the image below, published on the Stuff.co.nz website after American Magic was successfully recovered you can clearly see the hull damage.
Click here for more Ricky Wilson images and video . . .
The next race session in the Prada Cup round robins is on Friday when American Magic are due to meet Ineos Team UK in the first match of the day.
So, it seems that the American team will be working long hours to get their boat repaired and on the water in time.
Related Post:
America’s Cup – Ainslie makes it 4 Prada Cup wins from 4 races
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