When you think of dangerous sports, it’s likely that things like bull riding, base jumping, or boxing come to mind. Well, now you can add sailing to that list, as it turns out you can potentially be cut clean while doing it.
Recently, Graeme Spence, a member of the Oracle Team USA sailing team slipped and fell during a practice run. It’s not so much THAT he fell, but more WHERE he fell that makes this accident all the more terrifying.
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Spence is a Grinder. Which means that his job on the boat is to operate manual winches that move the boom and trim and raise the sails. During this run, he was attempting to move from one side of the boat to the other, but midway the speed decelerated and that caused him to be flung forward.
Falling off the side would be rough, these boats have been known to be able to get up to a top speed of 51mph which would make hitting the water feel like hitting soft ground.
However, Spence went over in front of the boat and was immediately pulled under. The thing about these boats is that on the underside they have hydrofoils that are typically made of carbon fiber, and they’re considered to be dangerously sharp. So sharp that if you hit one it could slice right through you.
This sharp hydrofoil is what Spence narrowly misses as the boat speeds above him through the water.
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Speaking about the incident, Spence stated, “You’re very aware of everything that’s around you – the four foils in the water with you. I just sort of froze a little bit and then was quite relieved to realize I was out the back of it.
Jimmy Spithill, the skipper for Oracle Team USA, said, “Any time you see or hear someone go over the front it’s a real bad feeling. That time from when he goes over the front to when you see him pop back up on the surface and see the thumbs up always takes too long. Every day we are constantly reminded of pushing the limits and learning from them.”
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[H/T: Brobible]
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