The U.S. team’s Saint-Tropez campaign got off to a rocky start when Jimmy Spithill’s team dramatically capsized in practice.
The full F50 fleet went head to head across three rehearsal races on Friday and were fitted with the largest 29m wing and light air foil configuration to compensate for the light airs forecast.
However, the breeze steadily built throughout the day and a sudden gust caused the U.S. team to topple over.
Around the same time - just after the second fleet race of the day - Switzerland came close to capsizing too - and both teams retired from the third race.
Instead, they headed back to the Tech Base to assess damage ahead of official racing on September 9-10 - all crew are safe and accounted for.
Spithill’s team had picked up a 4th and 7th place finish before capsizing, while Switzerland seemed to benefit from both the return of Nathan Outteridge and addition of former France flight controller Francois Morvan.
The team picked up 5th and 3rd place finishes and finished the day in 6th overall.
It comes after the U.S. picked up its first and only event win in Saint-Tropez last season, and Spithill’s team will be looking to secure a good result when racing gets underway at 13.30 CEST tomorrow. Full broadcast and how to watch information can be found HERE.
