A nasty collision involving Team Ceeref and Artemis Racing dominated the discussion back at the dock after day two of the RC44 Bermuda Cup in the Great Sound yesterday.

Sparks flew after the two boats came together shortly after the start on the day’s opening fleet race.

Artemis, with team owner Torbjorn Tornqvist at the helm, had the right away on starboard tack and were making good progress up the first beat. Then disaster struck.

Team Ceeref got squeezed by a bunch of boats to their leeward and attempted to steer clear, only to crash into the portside of Artemis’s boat, creating a gaping hole that ended the Swedish team’s day out on the water.

“We wanted to tack and then there was a shift and we just misjudged it,” Igor Lah, the Team Ceeref owner, said. “It was our mistake.”

Christian Kamp, the Artemis trimmer, added: “We were still on starboard and I guess they thought they could dip us. But it was pretty obvious to us that wasn’t going to happen, and unfortunately they hit us midship and put a big hole in us.

“We were kind of worried we were going to take water on board and start sinking, so we stuffed the hole with a couple of sail bags, put some sail repair tape over it and limped in.”

Fortunately, neither crews were injured in the mishap.

Team Ceeref was disqualified from the first race while for redress the jury awarded Artemis four points for each of yesterday’s four races.

Kamp confirmed that his team’s boat will rejoin the fleet when racing resumes today.

“Three hours later it actually looked like we can sail tomorrow, so tremendous job by everyone in the Artemis camp,” he said. “The guys here at the base did a fantastic job pulling together and getting this done, we couldn’t be more happy and ready to go tomorrow.”

Yesterday’s incident brought back memories of Artemis’s collision with the umpires boat during last October’s Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Bermuda, which the team rebounded from to win the regatta.

Meanwhile, Team Ceeref’s fortunes took a turn for the better after they rejoined the fray for the remaining races, securing three successive podium finishes, including two firsts.

Topping the leaderboard after the opening four fleet races were Team Aqua, who were a model of consistency in the shifty and variable breezes that kept the teams on their toes.

The British team, who locked up the match racing title the day before, never dropped off the podium in each of the races and won the third race to end the day two-points clear of Bronenosec Sailing Team, the defending RC44 match racing champions.

“Key was the guys doing a fantastic job,” Cameron Appleton, the Team Aqua tactician, said. “It was a very active day for the crew, and the guys trimming the sails did a really good job. We sailed well.”

Racing continues today at 11am.