Rescue attempt by Youth America’s Cup Team

The American Youth Sailing Force, the team representing the City of San Francisco in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, found themselves in a race for life last Friday evening near Golden Gate Yacht Club.

The team was getting ready for a fundraising event at the club when they heard the urgent screams for help at around 5:05pm, a result of a van careening through the Marina Green area and into the water. The Marina Green is one of the prime spectating areas for the 34th America’s Cup.

“After I heard the car swerve, I turned and I saw just as the car was hitting the grass right here and she skimmed over the blocks right there and skimmed off the asphalt and out into the water,” said Ted Matteson, a witness.

“We didn’t know what was going on at first,” explained team supporter Vince Casalaina, “but then we saw the van as it started to float out, away from shore. At which point, my team got in our boat and went out to see what we could do.” The team had ridden in their chase boat to the fundraiser.

“It was going down at the nose, the roof was just submerging when we got to it,” said Ian Andrewes, skipper of the team. “Before we even slowed down, three of our guys were in the water with tools and they were able to get on the car and start smashing the window, but unfortunately they couldn’t get the window to break completely.”

The driver in the van pleaded for help, but the van sank under them. Nearly 18 hours after the bizarre crash, rescue crews were able to pull the submerged minivan from the waters of the bay. The driver, who did not survive, was still inside the vehicle.

Team website – ABC News – SF Chronicle