Two crew members were injured in separate incidents aboard two prominent yachts in the Farr 40 One Design class of the Rolex Trophy as winds freshened and seas rose sharply off Sydney Heads today.

Tim Wiseman, 31, the bowman on Emotional Hooligan, skippered by leading Farr 40 owner Marcus Blackmore, suffered a suspected fractured leg (later it was confirmed he sustained muscle and ligament damage) when a large wave washed him overboard.

The crew recovered Wiseman quickly and Blackmore immediately headed back to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia where the club had an ambulance waiting on the dock.

Wiseman is one of Australia’s best racing crew and was bowman on Wild Oats when it led an Australian team to victory in the 2003 Admiral’s Cup in England.  He has been sailing in that position aboard the new Wild Oats and is a regular crewman on Emotional Hooligan.

In a separate incident, Emma Kirby, a crew member of the US yacht Barking Mad received a cut to the head.  She was transferred from the yacht, skippered by World Champion Jim Richardson, to a support boat and also brought back to the CYCA.

The yachts were competing in the second race of the day, race seven of the series, when the fleet encountered winds of more than 20 knots with the seas becoming choppy and confused.

“We went around the top mark in fourth place, hoisted the spinnaker and then went down into a wave that took the headsail and Tim with it,”  owner/skipper Blackmore said back at the CYCA.

“Tim and the sail smashed through the stanchions and he went over the side, but the crew quickly swung into action, dropping the kite and quickly hauling him back on board.

“The north’easter had freshened to 22 knots and more, but the seas were choppy.”

Sam Crichton, a media observer on the support boat, said that Emma Kirby, a mid-bow crew member, had sustained a minor laceration to the head when struck by the spinnaker pole on the first downwind run of the second race.

Emotional Hooligan won the first race today from the German yacht Morning Glory (Hasso Plattner), Ichi Ban (Matt Allen) and series leader Evolution (Richard Perini).

Racing was abandoned after race seven in both the Farr 40 OD and Sydney 38 OD classes because of the strong winds, gusting to 30 knots.

Overall winner of the Farr 40 class is Evolution, skippered by Richard Perini, the current Mumm 30 World Champion,  while the Sydney 38 class went to Cydon (Leon Christianakis)