Two sailors were taken to hospital after a “catastrophic” crash between the New Zealand and France boats on the opening day of the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland.
Racing was abandoned following the incident and SailGP said the injured sailors – one from each team – are in a stable condition in hospital.
Team DS France strategist Manon Audinet sustained abdominal injuries while New Zealand grinder Louis Sinclair suffered compound fractures to both legs, his team said.
The collision happened at the start of race three when, according to SailGP,, external the Kiwis “lost control and veered sharply in front of the French boat”.
Races three and four were called off, while New Zealand and France will not be able to take part in Sunday’s action because of the damage sustained.
“Everything happened so quickly – it’s still super cloudy in my head and I haven’t reviewed the footage or spoken to the umpires,” said France driver Quentin Delapierre.
“I think both teams are OK. I want to give my thoughts to the New Zealand team and also to my team-mates – this was tough for everyone on both teams. I believe we’ll find some solutions to make sure we never see this kind of thing happen again.”
New Zealand were also involved in a crash in the opening event of the season in Perth last month when they collided with Switzerland.
The Black Foils had moved into first place after winning race two in Auckland but have dropped down the leaderboard as they were given an eight-point penalty for the crash with France.
Defending SailGP champions Great Britain, who won the season-opener in January, were 11th in the first race before claiming second place in race two.
Organisers have rescheduled the start of racing on Sunday to an earlier time because of adverse weather conditions being predicted later on.