Horrific news from the Atlantic: Team Artemis has capsized off Bermuda with its test catamaran T2 (AC45T) during training. This was reported by the sailing blog "Sailing Anarchy" and New Zealand media. The first images are reminiscent of the sad day on 9 May 2013 when British Olympic champion Andrew "Bart" Simpson lost his life after capsizing during training. This time, as Team Artemis has since confirmed, the sailors escaped with a scare. But not the catamaran.
Although an official description of the damage does not yet exist, the test catamaran T2 is said to have been severely demolished. There are also speculations that the Swedish team was travelling with a wing sail for the AC50 catamaran. There was initially talk of damage to the cross spar. Based on initial images, it can be assumed that the training boat has "folded up", meaning that there may be damage to the substructure and therefore a similar failure to the tragic accident in 2013. There was initially no information about damage to the replaceable foils.
For Torbjörn Törnqvist's team, the crash has come at an inopportune time. Team boss Iain Percy's squad seemed to have just regrouped physically and mentally, and was in a good position. The damaged test catamaran, which will be missing at least for the time being, if not permanently, will severely disrupt the Swedish team's preparation programme for the 35th America's Cup qualifying round, which begins in 51 days on 26 May. It is customary in such a case that the Artemis camp has not made any further comments on the course of events or the damage - confidentiality is mandatory. The team will initially investigate the damage and only comment on the incident once the reasons and consequences are clear.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
