High winds wreak havoc at Australia Sail GP
STORY: Sunday's second day of racing at the Australia Sail Grand Prix was canceled after high winds destroyed Team Canada's sail in what organizers called "a major weather event."
Video shared on social media showed workers and spectators running for their lives as the wing sail crashed into a marquee and fell to the ground.
Sail GP said in a statement that several boats were damaged in the windy conditions but, as far as they were aware, no one was seriously injured.
CEO Russell Coutts said what blew through Sydney Harbour after Saturday's racing felt like a hurricane.
"Judging by the weather data, it was a pretty extreme event yesterday, meaning that the winds, the wind gust that came through was almost hurricane strength."
Phil Robertson is Canada's SailGP driver.
"It was some of the most wind probably ever seen in my life. So, yeah, it was a pretty real situation."
Ben Ainslie is the driver for Great Britain.
"Yeah, look, what happened yesterday was really unfortunate for everyone involved, for the league, for all of the teams, particularly for Canada. It was a very difficult situation with the weather front coming through and trying to anticipate exactly when that was going to hit the fleet was, and always is with the weather, you know, Mother Nature doesn't always play ball. And this was a case where it really caught us out big time."
