Shoreside support teams for Land Rover BAR are harnessing all their behind-the-scenes expertise to make repairs ahead of Day Two in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers.
On Saturday, during the first day of qualifier racing, SoftBank Team Japan and Land Rover BAR collided, resulting in a penalty to Sir Ben Ainslie of Land Rover BAR. Nobody was injured.
SoftBank Team Japan posted this video of the crash on Twitter.
Dean Barker, skipper for SoftBank Team Japan, told Bermuda’s Royal Gazette: “One of our grinder pedestal handles went through the side of their boat, I think, knocked all of the guys off the side and hit the steering wheel as well, so a little bit of damage.”
Ainslie acknowledged the extent of the damage to the Land Rover BAR catamaran: “It’s going to take a lot of work, but the guys have dug us out in the past and I’m sure they will do so again,” he told Telegraph Sport. “It is a big hole. It just depends where that is on the boat structurally and whether it can just be patched up or not.”
All of the America’s Cup skippers held this press conference yesterday to discuss the day’s events.
For today’s AC35 official news, visit americascup.com
