British yacht-racing champion and two-time Olympic medallist Andrew “Bart” Simpson was killed on Thursday when his vessel capsized in San Francisco Bay during training for the America’s Cup, his team said.
Simpson, 36, who won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, was sailing on the Artemis, Sweden’s entry in the America’s Cup, when the catamaran overturned, according to a statement posted on the Artemis racing website.
“The entire Artemis Racing team is devastated by what happened,” CEO Paul Cayard said in the statement.
“Our heartfelt condolences are with Andrew’s wife and family.”
The twin-hulled boat was performing a so-called “bear-away” manoeuvre, turning away from the wind, when one bow dropped under the water’s surface, and the vessel flipped over, America’s Cup spokesman Tim Jeffery told Reuters.
Simpson ended up trapped beneath the boat in the water and had to be pulled out by rescue divers, who tried and failed to revive him, Jeffery said.
The yacht was “very badly damaged,” but the team has a backup boat that is expected to be ready to sail in June, he said.
The incident was believed to be the first fatality in connection with the America’s Cup since the early 1990s, when a crew member from a Spanish team died in a training accident off Majorca.
The Artemis website said Simpson was part of an 11-member sailing team and that all other crew members had been accounted for following the mishap.
San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge confirmed that one male crew member had died in the accident and said he was estimated to have remained under water for 10 to 15 minutes before he was recovered.
She said one other sailor from the Artemis was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and later released.
The precise number of people aboard the Artemis when it tipped over was not immediately clear.
Although America’s Cup vessels sail with 11 crew members when they race, they are known to carry one or two more or one or two fewer members on practice runs.
A US Coast Guard officer, Pam Boeh-land, said support boats had pulled 12 crew members from the water, and that one was taken to a San Francisco hospital.