Britain’s challenger for the 37th America’s Cup suffered a setback during training off Barcelona last Friday (16 February) when an electrical fire broke out on one of its boats.
According to Marine Industry News, the crew onboard INEOS Britannia’s AC40 Athena leapt into action after smoke billowed from the forward hatch that contains a lithium battery.
The fire was quickly brought under control by pumping water into the hatch to submerge the battery, which was later safely removed by shore crew, and no injuries were reported.
Athena is one of two training boats, along with fellow AC40 one-design Sienna, being used by the team as it awaits the completion of the final fit-out for its AC75 race boat due in April.
“Fire onboard any boat is always an incredibly difficult situation to manage,” INEOS Britannia skipper and team principal Sir Ben Ainslie said. “I want to personally thank the team for their professionalism and the emergency services for their support.”
Marine Industry News has more on the story HERE.
