SAN FRANCISCO -- The America's Cup that promised thrills and excitement, a veritable "NASCAR on the water," pushing sailors and their boats to their limits, turned deadly Thursday when Sweden's Artemis Racing capsized its 72-foot catamaran during a training day on the bay, claiming the life of a British Olympian who became trapped underneath.

Andrew "Bart" Simpson, 36, who won gold in 2008 and silver in 2012 for Great Britain, was submerged for 10 minutes, authorities say, and efforts to revive him on the water and on the dock of the St. Francis Yacht Club were unsuccessful. Chatter heard on a sailing radio channel suggested crew members couldn't find him at first.

"The entire Artemis Racing team is devastated by what happened," Artemis CEO Paul Cayard said in a statement. "Our heartfelt condolences are with Andrew's wife and family."

Cayard declined to discuss what might have caused the capsize near the Ferry Building, between the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, at about 1 p.m. Wind was blowing at about 20 mph, normal conditions for this time of year and speeds that are expected to be similar when the regatta begins July 5.

Thursday's tragedy follows a highly-publicized capsize of Team USA Oracle's boat last fall and comes just two months before the Bay Area hosts the world's most famous sailing race. In the October capsize, the Oracle boat was severely damaged, its mast broken and hulls punctured as strong currents dragged it through choppy waters under the Golden Gate Bridge. But unlike Thursday's wreck, no one was injured in the October incident.

Oracle immediately reviewed its safety policies and required sailors, along with wearing life jackets and crash helmets, to carry knives and small oxygen canisters in case they get trapped under the trampoline net that connects the two pontoons. It wasn't clear Thursday whether Artemis sailors had the same safety equipment.




"It looks as though the port-side hull twisted badly or broke in half and looks as though the forward cross beam -- a major structural beam that holds the front and back together -- apparently broke or parted from the port-side hull," said Andy Turpin, managing editor of Mill Valley's Latitude 38 sailing magazine, after reviewing the photos. "When one bow buries into the water, then all the forces of inertia push the boat over head first."

A story in suggested, however that the capsize was not caused by sailors pushing the boat too hard, but by the boat itself breaking apart because of either faulty engineering or construction.

Turpin added that he was struck by how mangled the boat appeared. When Oracle capsized, the damage occurred not so much because of the capsize itself, but when the mast rammed the hulls that drifted for hours in the choppy water. Thursday's conditions were much milder, and it was "initially surprising when you zoom in and see how much damage was done to the hulls and crossbeams."





"It's a tragic day," San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said Thursday. "This is someone that is well-known and well-regarded as an expert racer.

"I wouldn't consider these extreme conditions. It's fairly windy out here today. I think, you know, anytime there's a sport of any kind there's risks involved."

How the tragedy will affect the Artemis team and plans for the America's Cup this summer is also uncertain. During a news conference Thursday afternoon at the Artemis base in Alameda, Cayard said his crew and their families were his biggest concern.

"It's a shocking experience to go through, and we have a lot to deal with in the next few days in terms of ensuring everybody's well-being," said Cayard, a San Francisco native. "We're focused on the people. That's what we're working with and on, and we'll give you more information when we're able to."

San Francisco police spokesman Albie Esparza said the department's major accident investigations team will lead the inquiry into the crash. The same team investigated an accident that killed five people during a yacht race off the Farallon Islands in April 2012.


Turpin, from the sailing magazine, said that the fact that two America's Cup teams have suffered catastrophic capsizes doesn't bode well for the summer of sailing.

"It does give one pause if the boats break up this easily," Turpin said. "This is only the second flip in the AC72, and both of them broke in one way or another."

Turpin surmised that Artemis "took every caution," and it's too soon to tell what factors contributed to the capsize.

"I'm not in a position to condemn these boats as too fast or too edgy," he said. "But certainly there's a great temptation to push speed and push the design parameters to the limits so they can go as fast as possible. The faster they go, of course, there are dangers."

Staff writers Peter Hegarty and David DeBolt contributed to this report. Contact Julia Prodis Sulek at 408-278-3409.