Canada’s Campaign Ends in Catastrophic Mechanical Failure at Puig Women’s America’s Cup
October 24, 2024
It was an interesting opportunity for Canadian sailors but Concord Pacific Racing’s campaign came to a abrupt end earlier this month after the Canadian team was forced to retire from racing following a catastrophic mechanical failure during the second race of the day at the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.
After starting their first race well and storming around the top gate in second place the AC40 took a huge nosedive toward the bottom mark, plunging off its foils into the water at speeds of over 30 knots. The dramatic stop narrowly avoided a capsize. Although the crew were all safe, technical issues with the boat’s data screens forced the team to retire to prepare for the next race.
In the pre-start of the second race, the team suffered a catastrophic hydraulics failure, losing control of the system that operates the foils and almost capsizing. The team acknowledged that these are some of the fastest foiling monohulls in the world, with extremely complex systems, and such breakages are a part of competing at this elite level of sailing.
Meanwhile, Artemis Swedish Challenge put on a dominant display, winning all four of today’s fleet races and finishing at the top of the leaderboard. They were followed by Jajo Team DutchSail in second and Sail Team BCN, who secured the third and final semi-final spot.
Final Group B Standings after Fleet Race 8:
- Artemis Swedish Challenge – 61 points
- Jajo Team DutchSail – 51 points
- Sail Team BCN – 44 points
- Andoo Team Australia – 39 points
- Concord Pacific Racing – 13 points
- Team Germany – 10 points
Team Canada made history by competing in the first-ever Puig Women’s America’s Cup, in addition to sending a Youth team to compete at the Unicredit Youth America’s Cup.
