Ashby breaks leg as bad luck strikes again for France

DS Automobiles Team France wing trimmer Glenn Ashby suffered a badly broken leg in a fall ahead of the start of race two at the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Australian, 48, lost his footing crossing the French F50’s trampoline, forcing the team to scratch from the race. The team returned to action for the final fleet race of the day as Australia’s Bonds Flying Roos loaned out its own reserve Tom Needham to step in for Ashby, who himself is a substitute for France’s permanent wing trimmer Leigh McMillan, one of the sailors to suffer injury in the accident with New Zealand’s Black Foils in Auckland earlier in the season.

“We had an unlucky situation with Glenn who injured his ankle,” French driver Quentin Delapierre told The Foil at the end of the day. “It was a port-starboard tack on the entry of the starting box and he broke his ankle and maybe his leg. It’s tough. We need to find a solution to stop this bad-luck loop, I would say.”

Delapierre later confirmed Ashby had suffered breaks to his tibia and fibula bones in his right leg, so is likely to be out of action for some time.

Delapierre was full of praise for Needham, who helped the team score a 10th place finish in the fourth race of the day. A ninth place in race one leaves the French on three points for the event and in 11th place overnight.

“We’ve been lucky to have Tom Needham, an Australian youngster who did a bloody good job,” said Delapierre. “It was not easy conditions, quite windy and he managed to keep a stable platform. He did an unbelievable job.”

Needham is an experienced hand to call on in such circumstances. He was a Youth America’s Cup trimmer for Andoo Australia in Barcelona in 2024, part of the same team as Cole Tapper, the new Congressional Cup winner. But Needham won’t return to the French F50 for Sunday. The team has called up Artemis reserve Dave Gilmour as it attempts to improve on its lowly position in Bermuda.

Artemis too suffered a difficult day on the Great Sound, after a structural failure on its F50 before the start of the opening race forced it to sit out the whole day – to the frustration of driver Nathan Outteridge. “We were sailing for about 20 seconds, did a tack and sailed for another 10 seconds when we heard a really loud bang,” he said. “We couldn’t work out what it was but it felt like we lost all rig tension when it happened.”

SailGP’s technical crew set to work on composite repairs and hope to return the F50 to the water for racing on Sunday.