Germany was forced to retire from racing on the first day of Taranto after the F50’s starboard foil snapped during a maneuver.
The incident occurred as the German F50 executed its final turn towards the finish line and saw the port-side foil drop as the team set up for a maneuver.
The starboard foil then begins to lift but suddenly drops back down - snapping completely in half under the heavy load.
Speaking live on air, commentator Stevie Morrison suggested the incident occurred due to a crew member accidentally pressing a button to drop the foil.
“It looks like maybe the button got pressed and it started to go back down again,” he said. “It just shows - there’s a lot of technology on these boats, they’re going really fast with a lot of really big loads.”
Australia and Emirates GBR topped the leaderboard after the first day of racing and are in pole position heading into day 2. Racing resumes at 13:30 CEST on Sunday, September 24.
