Driver Henry Talbot and co-pilot Andrew Cottingham are “thankful” to have walked away with only minor injuries after their boat flipped during powerboat racing in St George’s last Sunday.

The crash occurred while the duo were negotiating a turn in their new 24-foot Twister catamaran on the third lap of the race. A post-race inspection later revealed a hole on the bottom of their boat’s hull, which is believed to have been sustained by contact with an unknown object in the water.

“We had an unfortunate accident on Sunday,” a relieved Cottingham told The Royal Gazette.

“The boat hooked left in a left turn and rolled upside down, and thankfully Henry and I both escaped out of the cockpit with minor injuries

“After inspection it appears we struck some debris in the water, causing a crack on the bottom of the sponson, which ultimately delaminated the fibreglass and punched a hole in the bottom.

“We are both thankful for life and for all the help that everyone gave us. The overwhelming support by the crash boats and all the Bermuda Power Boat Association racers was tremendous. Everyone came together to make sure we were safe and then helped us save the boat from sinking.

“A special thank you to the Marine and Ports crew on the pilot boat, who flipped the boat back over for us, and to BoatPort for picking the boat out of the water.

“It will be a long road to bringing the boat back out, but we are determined to fix it and get back out there.”

Talbot suspected something was wrong with the boat from the outset of the 25-minute race.

“We were trying out a new prop and a few other things and from the start of the race the boat just felt weird,” he said. “We knew something was wrong but we didn’t expect what it happened to be with the boat.

“The lap before we actually rolled the boat, we went in that same corner and actually hooked the boat, so that’s when I definitely knew something was wrong.

“We just wanted to finish the race and get our points not expecting that the boat was actually going to roll over.”

Racing never resumed after the latest incident due to the time taken up with rescues and salvaging the boat.

“As a result of time constraints, and the time it took to ensure both drivers were OK and to secure the boat, we were unable to restart the race,” Bermuda Power Boat Association commodore Janae Nesbitt explained. “Marine and Ports gave us 45 minutes to host the race.”

The mishap occurred just two weeks after Cottingham and Talbot claimed D Class honours and led the entire fleet across the finish line in the Rubis Around the Island Race.

Nesbitt also said that the cause of the sinking of the B class boat driven by Damon Morris and co-pilot Anthanay Steede on South Shore during last month’s Around the Island Race has yet to be determined.

“There is no known cause,” she said. “They don’t know and have not provided me with a response to any other effect.”

In a separate incident during the ill-fated Around the Island Race, driver Ryan Resendes and co-pilot Makinday Johansen intentionally ran their boat aground to avoid sinking after it was damaged and began taking on water on the South Shore. The boat was promptly removed from Tucker’s Point Beach while Johansen was taken to hospital for treatment after complaining of a sore rib. He was released the same day.

The Royal Bermuda Regiment Coastguard and Bermuda Power Boat Association subsequently launched separate investigations into both crashed during the prestigious race in which six other team’s title hopes were also dashed after being forced to retire through mechanical breakdowns.