ETNZ: We're out of action until at least Saturday

THE WORD OUT OF BDA today – Land Rover BAR's prang with Emirates Team New Zealand, or "love tap" as Sir Ben called it, is requiring ETNZ to make extensive repairs. ETNZ had the right-of-way. Simply put, as on the highway the yacht astern (LRBAR in this case) must keep clear of the yacht ahead (ETNZ). One hears that ETNZ's shore team are working around-the-clock hoping to finish the repair in time to sail on Saturday – in the meantime losing three days of invaluable practice time during the final ten days leading up to the start of the Louis Vuitton AC qualifiers next Friday, May 26th.

Several of our SIRS – SAILING ILLUSTRATED Readers – have asked about the moment of contact as it is hard to discern from most of the videos available on the internet. So I took a couple of screenshots from the excellent ETNZ video, which, no surprise, has the best view of Ben nailing Peter. The collision is seen clearly on the ETNZ video in the first ten seconds, before the talking heads take over. The screenshots give you an idea of the rather steep angle of incidence....

Screenshot from the ETNZ video a fraction of a second before yesteday's collision.

And at the moment of contact.