Diving first

Tom Slingsby and Team Australia have seen their first SailGP Season 2 capsize while training on Team USA's F50.

19 April 2021

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With the start of SailGP Season 2 scheduled to commence on the 24 April,  skipper Tom Slingsby and his Team Australia took an opportunity late last week to train out in Bermuda’s Great Sound aboard the Team USA F50; the session ultimately ending with Team Australia capsizing. 

The accident, which is speculated to have been caused by strong winds, has caused clear damage to the wing of Team USA’s F50,  which includes Australian Jimmy Spithill in its roster. It’s assumed the damage occurred when the wing hit the surface of the water with force, later becoming submerged.

The members of Team Australia on board all took cover on the raised starboard side of the upturned F50. It’s been reported that no member of Team Australia was injured during the capsize.

“We were using the new 18-metre wing which has a few different operating ways. It was our first time using this wing and we did make some errors which have not been an issue in the past and were highlighted today in extreme conditions,” said skipper Tom Slingsby.

 

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“Today’s experience just highlights why it’s so important that we are able to test these boats and the new technology out before the Bermuda event. We did a safety session in the water two days ago and did a capsize recovery session this morning before we hit the water, so our safety protocol went very smoothly in righting the boat,” he added. 

“I’d love to say the USA boat was to blame! However myself and our sailors’ hands are up for this one. We were pushing the limits and pushed too far. We are now in the process of organising apology bottles of alcohol to the teams who have to fix the damage we caused.”

Wing trimmer Kyle Langford added: “It’s the nature of these boats in big breeze that you can have the chance of capsizing, fortunately everyone was safe and the damage is repairable and these things happen! Plenty to learn from this incident and we owe our American mates a few beers for that!”

“Safety is everything, the boats are traveling at the speed of cars and when you capsize like this it makes you thankful for all the safety training we do and the professionals that are on the support boats that assist to get the situation under control quickly.”

Currently there’s another week of training to go before practice racing begins on the Great Sound on Friday, 23 April.

SailGP Season 2’s first series of racing will then take place from 23–24 April. 

 

sailgp.com

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