VALENCIA, Spain -- At the rate America's Cup crews are capsizing their boats in training, the next regatta could truly be wet and wild.

Skipper Russell Coutts, one of the most accomplished sailors in America's Cup history, needed nine stitches to close a cut in his leg after an Extreme 40 catamaran capsized during BMW Oracle Racing's in-house regatta Wednesday.

Coutts was cut while the crew attempted to right the boat.

The other three members of the crew were unhurt in the accident during race training in 17-20 knots of wind, although the mast of the catamaran broke as it was being towed back to team base.

BMW Oracle Racing, backed by San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, will face defending America's Cup champion Alinghi of Switzerland in 90-foot multihulls in a best-of-three showdown sometime in 2009. The date will be determined by a U.S. appeals court.

In late March, two sailors from Alinghi's America's Cup crew were airlifted to a hospital after their 60-foot trimaran capsized during a training session off the coast of France.

BMW Oracle Racing is building a multihull boat in Anacortes, Wash., but won't say whether it's a catamaran or trimaran.

A U.S. judge recently ruled that the showdown between Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing can't begin before mid-March in order to give Alinghi time to build its multihull boat.

Coutts, a New Zealander, sailed unbeaten through three straight America's Cup finals. He was Team New Zealand's skipper during its wins in 1995 and 2000, then steered Alinghi to a five-race sweep of Team New Zealand in 2003.

He sat out the 2007 America's Cup after leaving Alinghi in a dispute with syndicate boss Ernesto Bertarelli.