Bermuda's top sailors during International Race Week yesterday.

First, Penny Simmons, a former International One Design world champion, watched helplessly as fellow crew member, wife Sacha, moved to the front of their boat to deal with a broken wire which snapped back across the top of her head, leaving her with a three-inch gash later requiring 12 stitches.

Then, Penny himself caught his thumb as he tried to loosen some equipment and was in agony as part of it was peeled off with already strong winds gusting up to 30 knots.

And while the two of them were being treated for their injuries at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, they were informed that their son Scott's Etchells boat, worth more than $20,000, had been sunk in a dramatic collision with an IOD in 45 feet of water in the Great Sound off Somerset Bridge. The three crew members of that boat, skippered by Australian Bill Steele, had to be rescued by race officials who reacted quickly to pull them from the bow of their boat which had risen sharply after the accident. Within about eight minutes the craft had disappeared from view.

Nobody on board the IOD vessel, captained by American Tony Huston, was injured although they later admitted responsibility for the accident.

Penny, back at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club later, was putting a brave face on his family's misfortunes, posing with Sacha for photographs.

Simmons, who missed the corresponding event last year to take part in a similar regatta in Antigua, said they had wanted to sail on but "Sacha was messing up the boat with blood''.

His wife added: "It was freezing out there and I think I was in shock.'' Race Week crash drama, photo: Page 13