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ORACLE TEAM USA in capsize drama
14 Mar 2016
ORACLE TEAM USA
KEEL OVER: ORACLE TEAM USA has become the first America’s Cup team to capsize during training in Bermuda. The incident happened on March 2 following a crew rotation.
Helmsman Tom Slingsby explained how, despite this being a best-case scenario with no injuries, it was still a traumatic experience.
“The boys had been sailing for a while, probably about 18-20 knots of breeze,” he said.
“We’d just done the crew swap, I’d just jumped on the boat. We went into a bear-away, all good, we went through a full foiling gybe. But as I was crossing, I saw we were getting too much heel on the boat,” continued Slingsby.
“When you capsize, it’s all on the skipper. The first thing I thought when I got washed off the boat was to get back on the boat because I need to be running the show for the recovery and to make sure everyone is safe,” he added.
In this case, the full crew was quickly accounted for, the boat was righted in less than five minutes, and was able to sail back to base under its own power.