Former America’s Cup skipper Terry Hutchinson has backed down from his contention that Artemis Racing was sailing an unsafe boat when it capsized on San Francisco Bay last year, killing British Olympic star Andrew “Bart” Simpson.

Simpson, 36, of Sherborne, Dorset, an Olympic gold and silver medallist, was killed on May 9, 2013 when the 72-foot catamaran flipped and crumpled while on a training run.

In an interview with Maxim magazine last month, Hutchinson was quoted as saying that he “had a massive falling-out with the owner of the team and the CEO about the safety of our yacht so they decided to terminate me.

“Ten weeks after my argument with the owner about the safety of the Artemis boat, the boat capsized in the San Francisco bay and one of the sailors was killed. It was a known thing that the boat was not safe,” he said.

But yesterday, Hutchinson said on his Facebook page that the Maxim interview “included some untrue statements and inaccurate remarks I made about Artemis Racing”.

He wrote: “To be clear, Artemis Racing is a well-organised and responsible professional sailing team that considers safety an absolute priority.

“My departure from the team more than five months prior to the tragedy of May 9, 2013 was on agreeable terms with the owner and my team-mates. No one could have anticipated what occurred, and I meant no disrespect to the memory of Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson or to any current or past members of the Artemis Racing team.

“I deeply regret any misunderstanding that was drawn from the Maxim interview.”

The Artemis syndicate is owned by billionaire Torbjorn Tornqvist, a Swedish oil trader.

The San Francisco Police Department, which handled the accident investigation, has declined to make its findings public.

Simpson suffered extensive trauma to his head and drowned after being trapped underwater for about 10 minutes.