Blair Tuke: Oracle Team USA likely to have suffered some damage in capsize

Blair Tuke and Olympic sailing partner Peter Burling will be in key roles on the Team New Zealand boat in the 2017 America's Cup. Photo/Brett Phibbs

Blair Tuke has cast doubts over Oracle Team USA's assertion that they didn't suffer any damage to their America's Cup Class catamaran in Thursday's capsize.

The America's Cup defenders tipped their 50-ft race boat during a training run yesterday, when a high-speed foiling gybe went wrong. It was the second time Oracle have capsized their boat in the space of a month.

The team later reported that no crew were injured in the incident, while there was no damage to the boat.

But Tuke, Emirates Team New Zealand's trimmer, told Radio Sport it was likely Oracle will have a few repair jobs after the incident.

"Luckily with these boats being a bit smaller than these ones last time and they can get them back upright pretty quickly. Even though [Oracle] said there wasn't damage, there will be damage to the boat. Not major stuff, but their boat was certainly put under stress," said Tuke.

"The port side of their boat ended up pretty much right under water when you go into a capsize like that, and with all the electronic stuff you want to be careful that the water hasn't got inside, because that can cause a bit of damage with boats as complex as these."

While Oracle are the only team to have capsized their race boat, almost all of the challengers have experienced hair-raising moments of their own in the high-powered, but extremely skittish, wing-sail catamarans.

WATCH...just seconds to capsize our #AmericasCup Class boat and minutes for #OracleTeamUSA to get her righted. No injuries, no damage pic.twitter.com/3MBEFktCar

— ORACLE TEAM USA (@OracleTeamUSA) May 10, 2017

Team NZ had a scare in one of their first few days of sailing up in Bermuda, nose-diving after catching a gust of wind as they attempted the tight harbour exit. There were more nervous moments for the team earlier this week, when they almost achieved full lift-off as the bow of the boat reared up.

Tuke said he believes these types of mishaps won't be restricted to training runs; they are likely to occur during racing as well.

"You're going to see that right throughout the racing, everyone is going to be pushing hard, these boats are really difficult to sail, and we're sailing right on the edge so in the upper ranges they're a real handful," he said.

"If you see some breeze in the challenger series and into the Cup, you're definitely in for some entertainment because they are a real handful to keep on the foils and keep smooth around the track."

Listen: Blair Tuke on the Radio Sport Breakfast