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SailGP finale is a thriller Tom Slingsby’s Australia SailGP Team won the $1m prize in the season’s grand final amid great drama on San Francisco Bay. It was the second overall victory for Slingsby and his team, who were the innaugural SailGP winners in the series’ first season. The Great Britain SailGP team, led by Sir Ben Ainslie, were second at the action-packed San Francisco event and finished the season fourth overall, after a high-speed collision at an earlier event put them down the rankings. Sir Ben’s team won $35,000 for coming second in the SailGP Impact League, which “rewards positive actions” in sustainable travel, tech, single-use plastic and communications. But it was the Australians’ day, Slingsby’s team prevailing over rivals Nathan Outteridge’s Japan and Jimmy Spithill’s United States. In difficult conditions and unpredictable racing, rookie Spanish driver Jordi Xammar crashed into Spithill’s F50 and tore a hole in the back of the USA catamaran. This required the US team to undertake frantic on-water repairs to get ready for the grand final and ended Spain’s racing. In the next race, France and New Zealand collided – resulting in four penalty points for
Peter Burling and crew, despite being the right of way boat – as Australia prevailed to win the Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix ahead of Great Britain and Japan. The championship’s grand final then started, with the US taking an early lead, only for the action to be abandoned for 15 minutes after a whale was sighted on the course. In the re-started race, Australia dominated, managing to find better pressure and opening up an early lead in increasingly difficult conditions and patchy wind. After collecting the trophy and the $1m team prize, Slingsby said: “More important than the money is that Australia came out on top and we can call ourselves the best in the world. “Money comes and goes and glory lasts forever. I know that’s a saying, but we really feel it right now.” Spithill said: “The Aussies have been the benchmark team all season and to do it back to back is very impressive – they deserve the win.” Sir Ben Ainslie said: “It was a random day with that unusual southerly breeze coming off the city and leading to absolute carnage on the water, which I’m sure was entertaining to watch.
“We had a particularly full-on incident in race two. Coming down the run at around 80kmh on starboard tack to the Kiwis and French, we were inches from a big collison, a heart in mouth moment we won’t forget for a long time. “Congratulations to Tom [Slingsby] and his team on a great series. They certainly earned their win. For us it was great to finish on a high note with a second for the event and fourth overall, with lots of positives to take to Bermuda.” SailGP’s third season kicks off with the Bermuda grand prix, presented by Hamilton Princess, on May 14 and 15, with an enlarged fleet of 10 teams, now including Switzerland and Canada. Events are confirmed in Chicago, the UK event in Plymouth (30-31 July), Copenhagen, Saint-Tropez, Cádiz-Andalucía, Dubai, Christchurch and the final again in San Francisco. More destinations are still to be announced. Meanwhile Hattie Rogers from Lymington beat the world’s best WASZP sailors in San Francisco to take a superb victory in the SailGP Inspire WASZP Grand Final, the culmination of season two’s Inspire Racing x WASZP series. SailGP Season 2 final standings 1 Australia 2 Japan 3 United States 4 Great Britain 5 New Zealand 6 Denmark 7 Spain 8 France
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JUNE 2022 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
Impact League Leaderboard 1 New Zealand 1246 pts 2 Great Britain 1192 pts 3 Australia 1161 pts 4 Spain 1094 pts 5 France 1081 pts 6 Japan 1048 pts 7 United States 1024 pts 8 Denmark 967 pts
