A serious collision that left one sailor with two broken legs and also injured another prompted racing to be abandoned on day one of the Auckland SailGP.
The French and New Zealand F50 catamarans collided early in Saturday's third fleet race, with the Kiwis appearing to lose control before dipping into the water in front of France, whose driver Quentin Delapierre was unable to avoid a crash.
The New Zealand team said later their grinder Louis Sinclair was receiving treatment in hospital for compound fractures to both legs.
A sailor from the French team was injured and was also reportedly in a stable condition.
Television footage suggested the New Zealand boat had lifted and heeled at speed, causing the rudder to rise out of the water.
The French boat rode over the New Zealand boat causing severe damage to both.
The third race was cancelled and no further competition took place on Saturday. .
"I think everyone, both team New Zealand and us, are pretty shocked," France driver Quentin Delapierre said. "Full support to Team New Zealand and my teammates, also. Hopefully we'll recover from this.
"Everything happened so quickly, it's pretty cloudy in my mind. I just tried to do my best to avoid the collision but obviously it happened too quickly. I didn't have the time to respond and steer the boat. It was a super scary situation."
Delapierre gave an update on both yachts, describing it as a "complex situation".
"We have to take time to analyse and see if something can be done for tomorrow and the rest of the season," he told the New Zealand Herald.
"I think the New Zealand boat is pretty much destroyed, and our boat - the port hull is in bad shape. We'll see what happens for tomorrow. I don't think we'll be able to race, but anything is possible, so we'll see."
Earlier Australia won the first fleet race, before New Zealand claimed victory in the second.
But Australia skipper Tom Slingsby said results did not resonate as much on a day like Saturday.
"We sort of just got through safe and then when they called it off, we're sort of all calling in, trying to make sure everyone's OK," he said.
"It's hard to really focus on results when there's a bit of chaos going on like that."
The crash comes after athletes called for the high-speed sailing league to consider widening the size of its courses at last month's Perth SailGP after a crash between the Kiwis and Switzerland in the first fleet race.
New Zealand driver Peter Burling received demerit points on his super sailing licence for his role in the Perth collision.
The SailGP fleet has 13 boats - more than twice as many as in its first season in 2019 - and all are competing for limited space on the course at speeds up to 100km/h.
New Zealand had to withdraw from the season-opening Perth regatta following significant hull damage, but had returned to the water in the second event in Auckland.
Racing on Sunday has been rescheduled to start earlier because of adverse weather conditions.
- with AP, Reuters.
