ROCKWOOL Racing came close to capsizing during training ahead of the SailGP Germany event in Sassnitz, leaving the Danish F50 with damaged components, wet electronics, and driver Nicolai Sehested nursing an injured finger on his left hand.
The incident happened just days before SailGP's return to Sassnitz on the German island of Rügen. Last season's inaugural event there included multiple crashes and the championship's all-time speed record of 103.93km/h, set by ROCKWOOL Racing.
Sehested described the moment as the boat getting too high and losing grip through a turn.
"It just got a little bit loose in one of our turn ups at the bottom, we got a little bit heeled over and went a bit high in the air with the boat," he said. "Once you go high you start side-skidding, you don't have grip, so it's been like giving full throttle on the car in the turn of the corner and you just end up side-skidding, like slipping. And then what goes up must come down again and you're just sort of waiting for that to happen."
The F50 came back down hard, damaging several components and filling the port cockpit with water.
Shore manager James Gell explained: "The guys came downwind, did a pretty aggressive roundup and got the boat to a pretty marginal angle. Unfortunately it filled up the port cockpit with water and with that happening it got all the electronics wet."
The team is now working through repairs and troubleshooting the electronics. Despite the scare, Sehested is expected to be fit to race when the action gets underway on Saturday.
"We broke a few things on the boat but we're just getting that repaired now and then we're good to go again," he said.
Racing takes place on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August.
