SailGP Day 1: Tight race for third Grand Final spot in San Francisco
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 13 Jul 2024 17:16 PDT
14 July 2024
'Technically I think we've finished' Phil Robertson spears a finish mark. The Umpires penalised Canada 4pts for the incident - Race Day 1 - SailGP Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco, USA. July 13, 2024 © Ricardo Pinto/SailGP
France SailGP team led by Quentin Delapierre turned in an impressive performance on the opening day of SailGP San Francisco, edge ahead of rival Spain SailGP by just a 1pt margin on the overnight leaderboard, after the first day of racing.
New Zealand and Australia, the top two teams overall on Season Points going into the final weekend, both kept their noses clean on Day 1 despite the streaky 15-20kt winds blowing from the usual direction through the Golden Gate.
The French team, who are also one of the six challengers for the 2024 America's Cup, topped the overnight leaderboard with an impressive and consistent performance never finishing worse than 3rd place in the three races sailed, and lead the day by 3pts from the Emirates Great Britain and Rockwool Denmark.
In one day the French have wiped out the six point lead enjoyed by Spain SailGP the third placed team on combined Season 4 Points. The Spanish team led by Diego Botin, were incredulous to hear, after the finish of Race 3, that they had dropped out of the bracket of three teams, who will go on to contest the $2million winner takes all prize that will be sailed as the sixth and final race on Sunday afternoon.
Race 1: The French, who missed the Practice Day, started Day 1 the way they intended to finish leading off the startline in Race 1, and went on to score a vital end to end win. Denmark followed suit, placing second - again without being headed. However it was of little consequence for the Main Event on Sunday afternoon.
Back in the peloton, Canada did what they had to do to realise their outside chance of making the Final from sixth overall. Their gung-ho skipper, Phil Robertson - a former world match racing champion engaged with the chasing pack dropping back as far as fifth, but pulling back to finish a very creditable third at the finish.
Spain started poorly, struggling to make the leeward start mark, rounding it in displacement mode, and setting the scene for dropping all of their 6pt margin over France, in just three races.
San Francisco turned on its usual weather menu, with a fresh 15-20kt breeze blowing through the Golden Gate and against the outgoing tide.
It was a streaky breeze, which make for tricky sailing for the sailors with the F50's being set up with their high speed foils and 18metre rigs, the smallest available, and which had been used just six times, the last being in Sydney in 2023.
It was a new setup experience for the competitors - those like Australian Tom Slingsby - who had been in the League from the opening race of Season 1, to the USA team who had undergone a complete skipper and crew change mid-season. In the lulls, the teams got caught underpowered and with the HP foils generating the least lift coming out of a tack. It was not unusual to see top skippers like Season leader Peter Burling, drop off the foils, or get caught in a sudden gust and get close to a capsize.
In a repeat of Race 1, Australia scored an end to end win, as France had done in the previous race. Slingsby was near assured of a place in the Season Final - provided they didn't get damaged - either through a capsize or collision. However instead of playing safe, the Australians picked off the early leader, France as they headed down Leg 2, with New Zealand dropping in behind France, and then dropped back into the body of the fleet, where all the serious racing takes place. Burling got caught, not for the only time, when the Kiwis got too high on the foils on Leg 3 and dropped off - allowing Switzerland (Nathan Outteridge) and Great Britain (Giles Scott) through, and dropped back to sixth place before recovering to finish third. The Australians and British moved out to be the length of the final leg ahead of the Kiwis, with Denmark in fourth - but insufficient to get that prized Season Final place.
Canada staged a spirited finish as Phil Robertson grappled with Switzerland's Nathan Outteridge, to prevent the Olympic Gold and Silver medalist passing to windward. The two boats quickly ran out of runway, and Robertson broke off the engagement - too late as it turned out, and the Swiss ran over the soft finish mark. Robertson could be heard telling his crew that "technically we have finished". It is not immediately clear if the umpires shared his interesting views.
Race 3: Encouraged by that result, the Danes did a rinse and repeat in Race 3 - scoring the third end to end win of the day. USA started well holding second place on Leg 2, but had boat handling issues, letting France and the Kiwis through into the top trio.
But it was not to last as the Kiwis again had a foiling snafu dropping off their foils, on Leg 3, but recovering to get back up to third. The Kiwis blotted their copybook again with a muffed tack which almost resulted in a capsize - letting France through to score their second third place of the day, and handing Quentin Delapierre a 1pt advantage on Season points over Spain, going in the Final day. New Zealand recovered to finish 4th with the other Season Finalist, Australia cruised around in 8th place - staying out of the way of serious trouble.
The Season Points, at the end of racing on Day 1 - had New Zealand and Australia assured of a place in the Final barring a catastrophe on Day 2. France and Spain will be matchracing on the final two races with just a single point separating the two teams.
However while both are in the Final, both the Australian and New Zealand teams will be having a serious debrief after the day's racing. After the finish of Race 3, Slingsby identified three issues from the day - saying they had to minimise their mistakes, see if they could stop the rudders washing out and losing grip on the water, and be very aware of the dangers of calling a tack when they hit a lull in the breeze.