May 14, 2013

The America's Cup Race Management held a press conference today to announce an independent review panel that will look into Thursday's capsize of Artemis Racing's AC72 #1 and the death of crewmember Andrew Simpson. The panel may look familiar to us Northern Californian racers as it includes three members of last year's Low Speed Chase review panel. Iain Murray will chair and Sally Lindsay Honey will be deputy chair for the investigation.

Tom Ehman, Vice Commodore of Golden Gate Yacht Club, and Iain Murray, CEO of ACRM, took the stage to answer questions and make a brief statement about the upcoming races. Most important was the meeting earlier in the day of the four teams and their commitment to race this summer. Ehman made a point that some media outlets were posting inaccurate reports and no judgement should be made about the cause of the crash until the panel has published their findings. Also mentioned was the acknowledgement that all the competitors remain at all times subject to article 18.1 of the America's Cup Protocol, that they race at their own risk, and the decision of a yacht to race is hers alone. Just like us.

For more information, see www.americascup.com.