Three crew members of the sailpower.com-sponsored 1720 were taken to hospital during the final race of the Warsash Spring series on Sunday 22 April.

The crew including Brett Lewis – the skipper/owner of the boat – suffered severe blows to the head from the boom when, on a spinnaker-dropping manoeuvre in the gusty/choppy conditions, the boat accidentally gybed. Lewis was thrown in to the water but thanks to the super-efficient Warsash rescue team, he was immediately recovered from the icy Solent waters and, together with the other two injured members of crew, was rushed off to Southampton University Hospital.

Despite the inevitable headaches, cuts and bruises, the team is well on the road to recovery and hope to be back on the racecourse this Sunday to continue their battle for their top position in the highly competitive 1720 fleet.

“It just goes to show, said Lewis, this sort of thing can happen to anyone. We’ve been racing the 1720 non-stop for two seasons and we class ourselves as reasonably experienced. Although it’s hard to remember the detail about what actually happened we’ve tried to analyze the situation to learn from our mistakes. The accident also highlighed the importance of wearing buoyancy aids – I’m off to put my order in right now!”