SailGP: BlackFoils sort out starting issues and lead after Day 1 of Los Angeles
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 16 Mar 10:51 AEDT
Fleet start - Day 1 Rolex Los Angeles SailGP - March 15, 2025 © Jason Ludlow/SailGP
The New Zealand Blackfoils team top the leaderboard after four races were sailed on Day 1 of SailGP Los Angeles.
The Kiwis skippered by three times America's cup winner, Peter Burling overcame their starting issues which beset their second and third SailGP events in Auckland and Sydney, winning their first two races. They were penalised at the start of Race 3 for jumping the start, but recovered well to lead at the first mark of Race 4, going on to place second, behind an improving French team sailing in their second regatta in a new F50.
Northstar Canada helmed by double Olympic Gold medalist, Giles Scott (GBR) is second overall returning a 3,2,5,6 scorecard to be 3pts behind the NZers. Australia helmed by Olympic Gold medalist and America's Cup winner, Tom Slingsby round out the top three on 27pts, 1pt behind the Northstar Canada SailGP team.
France is a further two points back, with a four point margin to the fifth placed team, Spain, lead by 2024 Olympic Gold medalist Diego Botin.
Before the start of the racing the French team announced the signing of a major sponsor L'Oréal Groupe, as major cosmetics conglomerate headquartered in Clichy, France, with a presence in more than 130 countries. They have become a sponsor of K-Challenge the sport-tech company backing the French SailGP team and the 2024 America's Cup team. The involvement of L'Oréal Groupe will extend beyond SailGP into other Youth and Womens sailing events.
In the opening race the Flying Roos picked up seaweed on their foils who were a long way last around the first mark, and did not realise they had an issue until the closing stage of Leg 2, when skipper Tom Slingsby wanted to know if they had a weed-stick on board.
The Australians bounced back to score a narrow win in Race 3, after a close tussle with the Brazilian team helmed by double Olympic Gold medalist. Slingsby dived through to snatch the lead on the final mark rounding - with just a short leg to the finish. However it was Brazil's best performance to date in SailGP.
In all other races it was a similar story with the competitors back in the peloton struggling to break through the turbulent air chopped up by rigs of the lead boats in the 12 strong fleet. The fleet were launched with their T-foils and #2 rigs to sail in the 12-18kt breeze in flat water.
Denmark had a disasterous first race hitting one of the racing marks with their T-Foil - which knocked the detachable, sacrificial tip off the foil and put them out of racing for the day - incurring a series and season points penalty - resulting in them being on the bottom of the leaderboard with negative points.
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