Australia SailGP: Quotes from the Mixed Zone - A tough opening day in Sydney
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 7 Feb 22:49 AEDT
German, Swiss and New Zealand SailGP teams - Race Day 1 - KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix - Sydney, Australia - February 8, 2025 © Jon Buckle/SailGP
Australia SailGP team, or the Flying Roos, as they are now known had the best day of the 11 teams that sailed on Day 1 of the KPMG Australia SailGP.
The Tom Slingsby led team came away with a string of top three places, and is near assured of a place in Sunday's Final. They achieved four good results in what he described as tough racing conditions in which they managed to get strong starts, giving the Flying Roos a jump on the fleet.
"We're stoked with our day doesn't get much better, really," the three time SailGP Champion said at the end of the racing in the Mixed Zone.
"It was s four races in tough conditions, and to come away with four good results, we're extremely happy."
"Getting the starts like that just set us up so well, I think we had four good starts, and so we were playing in that first or third part of the fleet straight away. I looked back around the bottom mark a few times, and I saw eight boats converging, some on port, some on starboard.
"I just thought, I don't know how they're all going to get around that mark. And I was just super glad I wasn't back in those so I mean, obviously the best part of today was our starts, and with those, it set us up for a great day."
The Black Foils (NZL) skipper Peter Burling was clearly not happy with the day's results, with the Kiwis recording an 8 and 7th placings in the first two races, and then suffering gear failure in the third, dropping them from sixth to last place. They were asked not to race in the fourth and final race of the day by the SailGP Tech Team.
"It was really tough day for us," burling commented in the Mixed Zone. "It felt like we're right in the hunt in those first couple of races, but we just made a few too many mistakes.
"We already struggling just to get nice and stable, but then obviously had a big nose dive [in the final metres of Race 3], and part of the system of the boat shut down.
"So it meant we couldn't really foil the end of that race, and then obviously asked by tech team to stop for the last one."
"You know, we felt like we're going really good in the build up, and really excited to try a few things."
"The damage was nothing structural. That's just a hydraulic or an electronic issue. One of the rams for the rudders was just jammed at the max, extreme end of the range, and we couldn't control it at all in the way we normally would. You can't really sail the boats hard when it's like that. You can put a lot too much load through them.
"We got asked to not sail for that last race, and it's always pretty tough sitting out these races."
Emirates GBR emerged in second place overall on the overnight leaderboard following a win in Race 2, and ending the day with a fifth and two third places.
Skipper Dylan Fletcher acknowledged the difficult conditions and emphasized the importance of starts.
"It was definitely difficult conditions, but it was all about the start," he said in the Mixed Zone after the racing had concluded.
"The Aussies really dominated that. And we, to be honest, I wasn't doing a very good job in particular [at the starts]."
"Luckily, we found our way through the fleet, most of time, and come away with a solid day."
"It was certainly close. We thought we were going to have a major accident in that first one, to be honest. So we're happy to come away cleanly from the day and in a good position. But it's certainly all about that start, and we'll be working on that going into tomorrow."
"We struggled with the starts for sure," added the Emirates GBR strategist Hannah Mills. "We got one good one, and then three tricky ones, and so we just felt like we were just in the thick of it all day."
"It felt pretty hectic, but we were doing a great job of sailing the boat really well. The maneuvers were really strong, and I had really good comments [from the booth coaches for the team]," she added.
The Swiss team got off to a fast start with a win in the first race, and backed that up with a second place in race 3, but a sixth and ninth placing kept them out of the top three by a single point. Denmark is 2pts behind in fifth overall.
"It was really cool to get firing of that first race - it set us the tone nicely for the rest of the day," said skipper Sébastien Schneiter in the Mixed Zone.
"But to be honest, we're almost more happy with the other races where we started pretty bad, but we were able to climb through, which is first time, for us."
"That is a really positive signs for the team and looking forward to tomorrow already.
"It feels like we're building something strong and feels like the Swiss team is getting there. Give us a little bit more time to get get more consistent.
"We did a good job to prepare the racing. And to be fair, the two hours practice we had extra, helped us a lot. It was a shame missing out yesterday [on Practice racing], but it was great we get those hours back today, and I think it helped us to understand the race course a bit better."