(05-09) 14:58 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — A member of the Swedish America’s Cup racing team died Thursday when the team’s sailboat capsized a half-mile north of Treasure Island, authorities said.
The boat, operated by the Artemis racing team, tipped over at 1:15 p.m., said Coast Guard Petty Officer Mellissa Deaton.
Rescuers pulled 13 sailors from the water. One man was taken on an Artemis support boat to the St. Francis Yacht Club, where a team paramedic performed CPR, said Mindy Talmadge, a San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman.
The man was pronounced dead a short time after he arrived onshore, Talmadge said. His name has not been released.
Another team member suffered minor injuries and was treated at the yacht club, Talmadge said. The other 11 sailors were taken to the team’s base in Alameda, where they milled about in tears, comforting one another.
It was not immediately known what caused the boat, a 72-foot catamaran with a wingsail, to capsize. The crew was training at the time, authorities said.
The boat’s bright-red underside was visible from Treasure Island, about 100 feet from the northeast shore, as a dozen other boats surrounded it. They appeared to be towing it away from shore southeast to another part of the island.
Bart Rugo, a Coast Guard auxiliary member who lives near the part of shore where the boat capsized, said the winds Thursday were a “little above normal.”
“You always have to pay attention to the wind,” Rugo said. “If you don’t make a turn at the right time with a boat like that, it’s easy to go over. With that much sail, the margin of error is small.”
The Artemis team had hoped to launch and christen the boat in October, but the planned ceremony was delayed after the crew “heard noises,” according to a posting on the America’s Cup website.
The boat first launched in November. But after some training sessions in February, the team decided to suspend its sailing program “in favor of boat modifications,” the site said.
It is unclear when the crew resumed training.
The team’s CEO is Paul Cayard, a seven-time sailing world champion and six-time America’s Cup veteran.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Ellen Huet contributed to this report.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Sailor-dies-when-Swedish-Cup-entry-capsizes-4503435.php#ixzz2SpwMDYZh
