America's Cup Prelim 1: Practice racing gets underway - Brits capsize on Day 1
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 20 May 20:03 PDT
Athena Pathway capsize - Preliminary Regatta Sardinia - Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup - © Ian Roman / America's Cup
Athena Racing (GBR), with a mix of Youth and Women sailors, nosedived and capsized on the first day of Practice racing in Sardinia, ahead of the start of the first Preliminary Regatta of the 38th America's Cup.
"First day of proper practice racing today," explained Hannah Mills, Athena Pathway skipper, and double Olympic Gold medalist. "We were going downwind in the second practice race on port and had a massive bang.
"We're not sure if we hit something, which caused us to kind of steer into a bit of a Chinese gybe and we capsized, unfortunately.
"We dropped the sails and had some batten breakages, and just a few other bits that just made us think it was much better to get the boat back ashore and get everything checked out, ready for tomorrow.
"We still have lots from the session before that. We had a couple of practice starts and a couple of practice races, so there is still a lot to take from the day.
No video is available other than on some social media platforms. However, the AC40 was sailing, surrounded by other boats, when the British did a sharp, apparently uncontrolled turn to windward, and continued to spin downwind, doing a quick uncontrolled gybe and then digging the bow in and going into a nose-dive and capsize.
Other than getting damp, the crew didn't appear to suffer any injuries.
There was no update as to the damage, which is expected to be minor - as has happened in other similar incidents - except for the first in New Zealand.
Practice Racing continues on Thursday, with the first day of Racing on Friday, and running for three days to Sunday.
Racing starts at 1313hrs UTC each day.
Eight teams are entered in the event with New Zealand, Great Britain, and Italy entering an Open team and a Youth and Womens team each. France and Switzerland have entered only one tea. The two latest America's Cup Challengers, USA and Australia have been excused from competing in the first Preliminary Regatta.
All teams will compete in eight scheduled fleet races, with the top two going forward to determine the winner of the first Preliminary Regatta.
Live streams:
Media Conference:
Race Day 1 Live:
Race Day 2 Live:
Race Day 3 Live: