Hamilton, Bermuda  – It was redline conditions for the America’s Cup Challenger Semi-Final matches as near max winds and storm cells led to damage on all boats and one quite notable pitchpole for Peter Burling’s Emirates Team New Zealand.

The Kiwi incident at the start of their second race left three of the teams’ sailors clinging on inside the cockpits on the starboard hull while the other three were ejected into the water. All six sailors were quickly accounted for as safe and unharmed and the team’s boat was righted and taken back to their base in the America’s Cup Village.

While Nathan Outteridge’s team on Artemis Racing found their boat unable to deal with conditions that saw winds nearing the 24-knot limit, dropping both their races to Dean Barker’s SoftBank Team Japan, the biggest talking point of the day was Emirates Team New Zealand’s capsize.

However, the capsize was not the Kiwis’ first issue of the day. Even before the first race of the afternoon they had to return to base to fit their spare wingsail after an unknown problem was discovered on the wingsail they were intending to race with.

The whole team pulled together and managed to fit their replacement wingsail, and get back out in time and get the win in the first race of the day with Land Rover BAR. But the capsize would give the Brits their first win of the Semi-Finals.

“Firstly, and the most important thing for us, is that all the guys on board are safe and with no major injuries,” said Burling. “It is definitely a relief when you see them falling off that you can look back and see their heads above water and that they’re all fine.

“We sustained quite a bit of damage to the boat but the shore guys are assessing the damage and we feel we will be able to repair it and get back out and into the action.

“The first race was a massive effort for the whole team. We managed to fit the second wing to the boat before the race and it was amazing to see the whole team come together and put their efforts into the boat.

“To be able to reward them with a win was incredibly pleasing because it was certainly a whole team effort.

“In the second race, as we tried to accelerate away from the start line we got really high on the foils and then and then came down really quickly. We are not sure what caused the capsize yet but we will go back and assess it.

“As a group of New Zealanders we are incredibly resilient, that first race showed that, and looking forward I think that first point could prove crucial. We’ll bounce back from this, get the boat back to 100 percent and get back out there.”