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The Log • Sept. 26 - Oct. 9, 2014 • 23
A day of sailing
Two OC yacht clubs host Sails Up for Down syndrome.
HUNTINGTON HARBOUR – Captains welcomed more than 60 kids from the Down Syndrom Association of Orange County aboard their vessels during the first annual Sails Up for Down syn-
drome (SUDS) event, Sept. 13. Founded by the American Legion
Yacht Club in partnership with Sea Gate Yacht Club, the idea initially came to American Legion YC Commodore Hans Witten in April. He has been working to put the sail together ever since. Three American Legion YC volun-
teers — Fleet Capt. Anne Borren, Treasurer Marco Monters and Director Steve Sawdon — along with Witten, and three boat owners with Sea Gate YC joined the children and their parents on the sail. Sea Gate YC Commodore Josef
Davydovits with wife, Kim, also arranged for a fire boat display prior to the harbor cruise. Kids ranged from 5 to 11 years in age.
Once on the water, passengers enjoyed a three-hour cruise through
SF Police say no charges will be filed in fatal crash of AC boat in 2013
SAN DIEGO (AP) — No criminal charges will be filed over the crash of an America’s Cup catamaran in May 2013 that killed British Olympian Andrew “Bart” Simpson, San Francisco police said Sept. 9. Many people associated with sail-
ing’s marquee regatta had speculated that the crash was caused by a struc- tural failure, which was confirmed for the first time Sept. 9 when a copy of the police report was obtained and posted by
sailinganarchy.com. According to the report, Artemis
Racing designer Adam May told a police officer after the accident on May 9, 2013, that the 72-foot catamaran had just performed a bear-away maneuver on San Francisco Bay “when the port side hull dug into the water and failed structurally. This hull failure caused the vessel to capsize and come to rest with the platform inverted.” Simpson, a gold and silver Olympic medalist, suffered extensive trauma to his head and neck and drowned after being trapped underwater for about 10 minutes, according to the autopsy report. There were serious cuts and bruises to Simpson’s head and neck, and foam inside his crash helmet “was irregularly separated consistent with being crushed,” the report said. The cause of death was listed as “blunt trauma with drowning.” “There were no criminal charges in
this case. The investigation is closed,” Officer Albie Esparza, a San Francisco police department spokesman, said Sept. 9. Esparza said the police investiga-
tion report was given only to the par- ties directly involved in the accident and their attorneys. Esparza added that the report was not made available to the public because it was protected under a state government code that gives police the right not to release it. “Our office was not presented with
any criminal charges related to the case,” Alex Bastian, a spokesman for San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, said Sept. 9. The crash has been cloaked in mys-
tery. Two sailors — one of whom was steering the boat when it capsized — clarified comments about it. Following the accident, Tony
Outteridge, father of Artemis Racing’s Australian helmsman Nathan Outteridge, told his local newspaper that his son said the boat folded like a taco shell. Nathan Outteridge later issued a statement saying, “The description of the accident in the Newcastle Herald while quoting my father is not correct and does not reflect the facts. Unfortunately it has been relayed by other media. Right now, we are all still mourning and working to understand what happened.” Late last month, former Artemis
skipper Terry Hutchinson backed down from his contention that the syndicate was sailing an unsafe boat. In an interview with Maxim maga- zine posted online earlier in August, Hutchinson was quoted as saying that he “had a massive falling out with the owner of the team and the CEO about the safety of our yacht so they decided
to terminate me. Ten weeks after my argument with the owner about the safety of the Artemis boat, the boat capsized in the San Francisco bay and one of the sailors was killed. It was a known thing that the boat was not safe. It was a tragedy. The guy that was killed was a good person and a father.” On Aug. 29, Hutchinson said on his
Facebook page that theMaxim inter- view “included some untrue state- ments and inaccurate remarks I made about Artemis Racing.” Hutchinson said in an email to the Associated Press that he wasn’t going to comment further on why he recanted his earlier statement. Artemis had technical problems before the capsize. In the fall of 2012,
the syndicate said the front beam of the catamaran was damaged during structural tests, delaying the boat’s christening. The police report noted that
“America’s Cup race boats present cut- ting edge technology and are designed to operate with little margin for error. Vessels that are designed and operated as race boats do not have many of the safety features that would normally be associated with recreational vessels and or commercial vessels.” Simpson’s death prompted race
organizers to implement 37 safety rec- ommendations, including equipping sailors with body armor, an air tank and breathing tube and underwater locator devices.
Volunteers with Sea Gate and American Legion Yacht Club enjoyed a day out on the water with children from the Down Syndrome Association of Orange County. The event – Sails Up for Down syndrome (SUDS) – was the first of many that will be held by the yacht clubs.
Huntington Harbour. “They were very excited from the moment they arrived,” Witten said. “It was a super event.” Witten plans to host SUDS four to five times a year alternating between Newport Harbor and Huntington Harbour.
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