IT WAS a terrifying high-speed crash that threw the crew of One Hull Of A Boat 30ft across the water.
But driver Jono Searby and navigator Sam Whitaker say the accident will not stop them racing again in Plymouth in the second round of the P1 Superstock Championships.
The duo were taking part in the third race of the opening leg of the championships on the Humber at the weekend when the boat flipped, throwing the pair out into the river.
The accident happened at full speed, causing the race to be red flagged.
Jono, who was rushed to hospital afterwards, said: "Going into the race we were excited. We had done what we needed to do in race one and two and we were confident.
"With each race what we wanted to do was to come nearer and nearer the others, and we were."
From the off the crew were racing with the Typhoo boat, with the crowd watching them jostle for position.
Jono said: "We were chasing them down and were neck and neck.
"Then we went round the next corner and it is all a bit of a daze.
"We hit the water and flew up, which is normal, but when we came back down we caught a wave. It was one of those split-second things that the wave was at the wrong point and it took the underside of the boat."
As the crew were turning left to go round the buoy, the boat lifted out of the water.
Landing on the wave, it flipped to the right, throwing Jono and Sam 30ft from the boat.
"There was nothing we could do the counteract it," said Jono.
"I went head first into the water and my helmet filled up with water.
"My lifejacket brought me up and I managed to get my visor open. I was looking for Sam. I saw him and then I felt a searing pain in my leg.
"Within seconds, the safety crew were there."
With fears his leg was broken, Jono was put in a splint and given gas and morphine for the pain.
"The pain was unreal," he said.
"I remember seeing Sam on the marina and in the ambulance. He gave me a tap on the head. He was cut up about it."
After more than 12 X-rays, doctors allowed Jono back home with a severely bruised leg.
"We were doing so well in race three," he said.
"Our aim was to get closer and closer to the other boats in each race and that's what we were doing.
"There was nothing we could have done about it. It was one of those things that could happen to even the most experienced drivers. "The US crew said it happens in almost every race in America.
"The support we have had over the weekend and since this has been phenomenal.
"There have been hundreds of messages. If we could say thank you to every one of them we would."
The accident happened in the first leg of the P1 Superstock Championships.
It is the first race One Hull Of A Boat has taken part in after businesses from across the city came together to buy the vessel.
The aim was to put Hull on the map and get people talking about the city.
Both Sam and Jono say their accident will not stop One Hull Of A Boat from going back in the water.
