Chris Draper’s Team Korea capsized during race on Day 2 of 2011 America’s Cup World Series
Day 2 of 2011 America’s Cup World Series at Plymouth was a day of capsized and collapsed boats, as the heavy weather conditions troubled the AC45 fleet during the only race of the day.
One of the troubled boats was the Chris Draper skippered Team Korea which capsized during their race towards the top mark and damaged its wings.
The increasingly shifty breeze blew from around 25 to 30 knots on Plymouth waters, with heavy gusts blowing over 40 knots. These were by no means ideal conditions for sailing and not surprisingly
the sailors had their work cut out for them.
The Korean team started convincingly on Day 2 but as they sailed to the top mark, a heavy gust hit the boat and hitched it on the left. During the accident, Team Korea’s Australian crew
member, Peter Merrington fell from the hull and bounced off the wing. However, he was safe as he grabbed the ropes and hanged there for a minute before sliding into the water.
While speaking to the local reporters about the accident, Merrington said, “As I fell I managed to spread my arms and try to minimise the point of impact which seemed to work pretty well
as the only damage was done to the top of the wing where it hit the drink.”
Team Korea skipper Chris Draper added, “Fantastic job by the support crew on the boat to get there and onto us so fast, they really managed to minimise the damage to the wing. We broke
two of the smaller ribs at the top but that was it, and we were able to sail on and finish the race.”
The overall standings at the end of Day 2 are given below:
1. NZL Emirates Team New Zealand, Dean Barker 10, 8, 10, 9 = 37 points
2. USA ORACLE Racing Spithill, James Spithill 9, 10, 7, 10 = 36 points
3. SWE Artemis Racing, Terry Hutchinson 8, 9, 9, 3 = 29 points
4. USA ORACLE Racing Coutts, Russell Coutts 3, 7, 8, 8 = 26 points
5. CHN China Team, Charlie Ogletree 5, 6, 5, 6 = 22 points
6. FRA Aleph, Bertrand Pace 7, 4, 6, 3 = 20 points
7. FRA Energy Team, Loick Peyron 3, 5, 4, 7 = 19 points
8. KOR Team Korea, Chris Draper 6, 3, 3, 5 = 17 points
9. ESP Green Comm Racing, Vasilij Zbogar 4, 3, 3, 3 = 13 points
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