Following an incident involving a rock and a hard place . . . It is looking unlikely that Ben Ainslie’s SailGP Team will be able to race Friday.
The Great Britain SailGP Team became the second team to sustain damage during practice, following Spain being sidelined on Wednesday.
Both are now in a race against time to compete in the ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix this weekend, after sustaining damage to their F50s during practice racing in Copenhagen.
Ainslie commented . . . “We are reviewing the damage but looks unlikely we will race tomorrow, which is hugely frustrating, we appreciate all the support from the SailGP Tech Team to retrieve the boat and help us get back on the water as soon as possible.”
“We were training just outside the racecourse boundary and unfortunately hit an unmarked rock. We sustained a lot of damage to the starboard rudder, daggerboard and rake ram which is obviously critical to sail and control the boat.”
The damage to the starboard side included snapping the head of the starboard rudder clean off and damage to the foil and board case.
The rudder was retrieved and the F50 is now back in the GBR team base where the overall damage is being assessed.
With the support of SailGP’s Tech Services, the team will be working through the night to effect repairs, with the aim to race in this weekend’s ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix in Copenhagen – Friday and Saturday 19/20 August.
No injuries were sustained onboard.
The Spanish team were earlier reported to have sustained significant damage to their F50 in training.
SailGP’s tech team will be working around the clock to get Spain sailing again, but the team won’t be back on the water for crucial practice racing on Thursday.
Will the British and Spanish teams make it to the racecourse at all this weekend?
SailGP’s visit to Copenhagen marks the fourth event in its 11 event Season 3 schedule.
The ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix will comprise five fleet races to be contested across Friday and Saturday before the three boat match race final on Saturday.
