The owner and driver of a powerboat that capsized during the St George’s Harbour Race on Sunday has relived the ordeal that brought racing to a premature end.

Howard Ascento and co-pilot Nasaje Anderson were thrown from their 21-foot Skater boat when it flipped near Governor’s Island while negotiating a left turn into open water.

“It was a little tricky there and it happened so fast. We caught a wave and pretty much got sideswiped in it,” Ascento, 38, told The Royal Gazette.

“Once we got to the offshore part the boat hit a couple of waves and we lost control. We got thrown out of the boat and a couple of crash boats were on the scene pretty fast and got us out of the water.”

Ascento and Anderson were uninjured in the incident that was captured on video, while their boat was recovered from the water.

“We didn’t suffer any injuries; it was just a small accident and the boat will be back up and running,” said Ascento, who is a 15-year race veteran.

“The boat suffered damages but nothing too serious, so we will try to be back out for the next race. The seats came a little bit out, but no real damage to the hull and the motor has been started. We will be back in the water soon.”

After the mishap the race was red flagged, with no further action taking place.

Former Bermuda Power Boat Association commodore Chris Roque suggested the tricky conditions in the vicinity of the capsize might have caught Ascento and Anderson by surprise.

“Boat racing is a dangerous sport and there are known risks involved as boats do flip and have issues, but I think Sunday’s race incident was due to water conditions,” he said.

“If it was a go-kart accident you would see the guy spin and keep going and the only difference is when you spin in a boat it goes upside down.

“That calm water going into rough water coming out of the cut there where the driver needed to have slowed down a little bit early, the conditions were changing as the day went on so it became a little rougher than the last lap, and I think he just went in a little hot. I wouldn’t say he did something wrong, it just tripped him a little bit more than he expected.

“There was a noticeable cross chop so he just went in and the troughs were getting bigger. It was the corner that would make you pay attention.

“I can’t say it was unforeseen but again it’s a racing incident and these things happen. They’re no fault in a sense, and that’s why we have marshal boats and incident plans in place. As sad as that is, unfortunately it is part of the race day.”

Roque praised all those involved in the rescue recovery.

“The incident was dealt with quickly. All the marshal boats and safety aspects were in place and the disaster plan was executed perfectly,” he said.

“It was a very small window of opportunity for the whole race to happen and it happened flawlessly on time and obviously ended minutes early due to a boat incident.

“The marshal was there within seconds and called in right away, so hats off to our marshal boats, to St John Ambulance and to our race committee. All hands were on deck right away.”

Sunday’s incident arrived just over two months after Rickai “Pugi” Raynor succumbed to injuries he sustained when his boat crashed into a yacht moored near White’s Island during the BPBA’s Hamilton Harbour Race series on June 28.