VIDEO Team New Zealand’s mast breaks suddenly.
THE PERFECT GIFT!
Give or treat yourself to a subscription to the print + digital Journal of Sailing and for only 69 euros a year you get the magazine at home plus read it on your PC, smartphone and tablet. With a sea of advantages.
The first day of racing at the France Sail Grand Prix in Saint-Tropez, the third leg of the SailGP 2023/24 circuit, ended in dramatic fashion, with Team New Zealand suffering a major blow when the mast wing of its F50 broke off. Look what happened to their F50, the 50-foot (15.50-meter) catamarans that take part in the rival America’s Cup circuit (which will be raced instead with flying monohulls) devised by Larry Allison and Russel Coutts (the duo that won the Cup with Oracle).
What a bang! Team New Zealand’s F50 mast explodes at France’s SailGP
During a fairly successful first day of racing, Team New Zealand, after winning the opening race by some margin and subsequently taking a 6th and 5th place finish (ending the day in second place overall), suffered a breakdown. The mast of his F50 exploded while sailing, fortunately without causing any injuries. A full assessment of the accident and damage is currently underway.
F50s are one-design flying catamarans used in the SailGP championship. It is an updated version of the AC50s used in the America’s Cup, with some modifications including new control systems and modular wing sails. These catamarans are one of the fastest racing classes in history, with a predicted top speed of 52.2 knots (96.6 km/h). Unlike most one-design sailing classes with fixed rules, F50s are constantly being developed with modifications implemented simultaneously on all boats. This prevents a technological arms race while enabling performance improvements.
The SailGP
Larry Ellison’s declared “war” on the America’s Cup is not recent history. A war that began in the early 2000s, when American billionaire Larry, founder of software giant Oracle Corporation, decided that his “whims” would include the Cup. Today, after Oracle Team USA dropped out of the America’s Cup, the circuit is in its third year and is run in stages around the world. Currently 10 teams are participating, and the current winners are the Australians, on their third consecutive title, led by Tom Slingsby. There are many America’s Cup sailors participating in the circuit, including Francesco “Checco” Bruni, Nathan Outteridge and Chris Draper aboard Japan, as well as Sir Ben Aisle and part of the INEOS Britannia team aboard Emirates GBR. Next stop? Sept. 24-26 in Taranto.
James Barbaro
Share:
Check out the latest issue
Are you already a subscriber?
Ultimi annunci
Our social
Sign up for our Newsletter
We give you a gift
Sailing, its stories, all boats, accessories. Sign up now for our free newsletter and receive the best news selected by the Sailing Newspaper editorial staff each week. Plus we give you one month of GdV digitally on PC, Tablet, Smartphone. Enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “sign me up” button. You will receive a code to activate your month of GdV for free!
You may also be interested in.
Francesca Clapcich, it’s official: “At Vendee Globe 2028 with 11th Hour Racing and Malizia 3”
The news was in the air, and he had anticipated it to us during the episodes of The Vendée Globe Trial, but now it is official: Francesca Clapcich is launching her Imoca 60 campaign , goal Vendée Globe 2028, the
The fantastic invasion of Lasers in Imperia: 600 to race for the Europa Cup
It was an edition marked by wintry weather conditions, the third leg of the EurIlca Europa Cup 2025. From March 13 to 16, in fact, the waters of Imperia welcomed 602 ILCAs (formerly Lasers) with an opening of the first
Sail GP mania: Mbappé, Real Madrid star investing in sailing
If Kylian Mbappé, the world’s highest-paid soccer player, has just invested in the French team and Rolex, the most famous and coveted watch on the planet, gives it its precious name, then the Sail GP flying world sailing circuit is
The Rolex Sail GP in Los Angeles, Italy and the “curse” of eighth place
The Chinese say that the more number 8s there are, the better the luck will be. I hope this also applies to the Red Bull Italy team, which is engaged in Los Angeles in the 4th leg of the Rolex
