AC72 Pitchpole – Story, Pix and Video

by The Sail-World.com Team on 17 Oct 2012 Oracle Team USA 17 – the team’s AC72 racing yacht – capsized during training at approximately 3 pm PT today on San Francisco Bay
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Tactician Tom Slingsby reported - '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.

'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,

Sail-World has images and video already and we adding more to our detailed story as it develops.

Today we are running one of the interesting back stories from the 2012 Heaven Can Wait 2012 - Tracking the Marks.
In the middle of a very dark and raining heavy weather night at Heaven Can Wait 2011, one of the 24 hour race course marks was dragged from its position near Mannering Park into the shallows.

Post event, the decision was made that given the unique nature of the 12 and 24 hour race, the marks needed to be tracked. One name came to mind for a tracking solution… it was Yellowbrick

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We have lots of images from the 2012 event and we have a selection of them today.

We also have the breaking news on the death of Joe Adams.