When issues arise in the heat of an America’s Cup race, Bermudian Sam Bennett will be one of the first to respond.

Mr Bennett, a 20-year-old PADI master scuba diver trainer, has been highlighted in his work as a safety diver for SoftBank Team Japan after a crew member accidentally went overboard during a practice session last week.

While the crew member was safe, indicating to safety teams that he was all right, Mr Bennet was ready to jump overboard to help if needed.

In a recent video posted by ACBDA, Mr Bennett said: “If there is ever an accident out on the water, say the boat flips, what will happen is we will wait and see who pops up. All the sailors have life jackets on.

“They will come to the surface, they will give us the okay sign that will let us know they are okay.

“If they don’t, that tells us we need to rush over to those people and get them out of the water and get them treated.

“If not all sailors pop up, that gives us the inclination that someone might be trapped underneath the boat.

“In that case I have to jump in to get under the boat, find this person, make sure they are not tangled up in anything, pull them [from under] the boat and get them back to the surface and on the boat safely.”

He said he earned the position after volunteering as a safety diver during last October’s America’s Cup World Series event in Bermuda.

In addition to helping out in the case of emergencies, Mr Bennett is tasked with making sure safety gear is functioning, filling emergency air tanks and attaching them to sailors’ life jackets.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said. “At SoftBank, because we are a fairly new team, we are a very close-knit group.

“It’s not widespread where everyone has one specific job. We all chip in and do everything together.”