America’s Cup officials said on Tuesday the premier yacht race is on course to take place as planned, despite the death of a veteran sailor from the Swedish team during training last week.
The accident that killed Artemis Racing member Andrew Simpson had raised concerns that high-performance AC72 catamarans intended to rev up the event might be deemed too dangerous for sailors.
Simpson, nicknamed “Bart,” died when the Swedish team’s AC72 overturned while training on San Francisco Bay on May 9.
All four teams remain on board for the competition in San Francisco Bay, which gets underway in July with Louis Vuitton Cup matches to decide who takes on the champion Oracle crew in September.
“The America’s Cup will go ahead this summer,” the Cup’s external affairs director Tom Ehman said during a press briefing at Pier 27 in San Francisco.
“We will see the world’s best sailors racing at the highest level on the iconic San Francisco Bay.”
