Sir Ben Ainslie (skipper of Land Rover BAR) was forced to explain a dramatic collision that occurred during the last race of the day on Saturday 27th May. The English and Japanese challenges were looking to gain an advantage by entering the start box, before the boats collided at high speed, resulting in a penalty for the English team. Damage was caused to the boats, including Land Rover BAR, which began to take on water.
This scene is reminiscent of last week's scene during training between Land Rover BAR (again) and Emirates Team New Zealand . Sir Ben Ainslie had to explain about that fender bender: "To be honest, for me, it's all white hat and white bonnet. The collision was obviously unfortunate, but these things happen when you use these boats. You don't go out there planning to cause damage, so in that respect it is unfortunate that both boats were damaged.
Unfortunately, I'm not a boat builder so I'm not sure how much damage has been done, but no doubt both shore teams will work incredibly hard to make sure we're both ready for tomorrow."
SoftBank Team Japan skipper Dean Barker, whose team suffered a loss to Artemis Racing in its first race of the day, took victory in the sixth race and was relieved that none of his team suffered injuries in the collision with Land Rover BAR.
"We were incredibly lucky that there were no injuries to the guys," said the New Zealander. "Maybe they were still a bit shocked when we started racing but the way they regrouped and got back into the game was fantastic. Ben apologised. Obviously it was their mistake because they caused it, but that doesn't stop the guys on shore having a big workload tonight to get things straightened out. You know what's going to happen. You can see it in slow motion, but you can't stop it. It could have been worse if their boat had come a little higher up on our hull, it would have been really dangerous."
Results of the first day of regattas
This first day was marked by the supremacy of the Defender - Team Oracle USA - which won both races of the day. The other teams all scored a point, winning at least one of its races. Whilst the French challenge, Groupama Team France lost both of its races.
Team Oracle USA: 1 - Groupama Team France: 0
Artemis Racing: 1 - Softbank Team Japan: 0
Groupama Team France: 0 - Team New Zealand: 1
Land Rover BAR: 1 - Artemis Racing: 0
Team New Zealand: 0 - Team Oracle USA: 1
Land Rover BAR: 0 - Softbank Team Japan: 1
