America's Cup: Sailor killed in capsized boat an Olympic medalist

America’s Cup: Sailor killed in capsized boat an Olympic medalist

The overturned Artemis Racing AC72 catamaran, an America's Cup entry from Sweden, is towed past Treasure Island after the boat capsized during training in San Francisco Bay .

By Andrew Blankstein, Kate Mather and Maria L. La Ganga

May 9, 2013 3:46 PM PT

A Swedish racing team identified a British Olympic gold medalist as the sailor killed when a catamaran capsized during training for the America’s Cup on Thursday on the San Francisco Bay.

Artemis Racing confirmed that Andrew “Bart” Simpson was trapped underneath the AC72 vessel and could not be revived after he was pulled from the water.

“The entire Artemis Racing team is devastated by what happened,” Chief Executive Paul Cayard said in a statement. “Our heartfelt condolences are with Andrew’s wife and family.”

Simpson joined the team in late February and was listed on its website as a strategist. He won a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

In March, he tweeted about the upcoming race.

“Moving the family to San Fran for 6 months is pretty hectic!!!” he wrote. “The cup should be fun though!!”

The U.S. Coast Guard received a report of a capsized vessel on the northwest side of Treasure Island about 1 p.m., Petty Officer Pamela Boehland said. The Coast Guard deployed several small boats and a helicopter to assist with the rescue of the vessel, but an America’s Cup support boat was able to recover all those aboard.

An America’s Cup chase boat pulled about a dozen crew members out of the water and raced to shore. They attempted CPR, but the sailor was pronounced dead when they reached shore at the nearby St. Francis Yacht Club.

The San Francisco Fire Department said the crew member was trapped under the boat for between 10 and 15 minutes, spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.

At least one other sailor suffered cuts, but declined to be taken to a hospital.

It was not immediately clear what caused the boat to capsize, but winds in the area were gusting up to 20 knots.

The international sailing race is scheduled this summer in San Francisco. The Swedish team is a challenger for the 2013 America’s Cup.

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Kate Mather

Kate Mather covered crime, policing and breaking news across Southern California before leaving The Times in 2018 to attend law school. A native of Lawrence, Kan., she studied journalism at USC before first joining The Times in 2011. Mather was part of the team of reporters that received a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, as well as the team that was a Pulitzer finalist for its reporting on a deadly 2014 rampage in Isla Vista, Calif.

Maria L. La Ganga

Maria L. La Ganga is the deputy managing editor for California and Metro, overseeing the Los Angeles Times’ largest editorial department. She joined The Times in 1981 as an academic intern, splitting her time between the former Metro section and National Dragster, the official publication of the National Hot Rod Assn. She has served as Seattle bureau chief, San Francisco bureau chief, edited in the Business section and pitched in on six presidential elections, five for The Times and one for the Guardian. La Ganga left The Times in 2015 and returned in 2018 after a brief hiatus during which she wrote for the Guardian and the Idaho Statesman. She was named city editor in 2022 and promoted to her current role in 2024. La Ganga graduated from Granada Hills High School in the San Fernando Valley and Cal State Northridge, where she studied English literature and journalism.

America’s Cup: Sailor killed in capsized boat an Olympic medalist

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