SailGP: Northstar Canada continue their winning ways in San Francisco
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 22 Mar 2025 16:39 PDT
Off to a fast start - Race 1- Oracle San Francisco SailGP - March 22, 2025 - San Francisco © Simon Bruty/SailGP
Northstar Canada has scored two wins from four races to top the overnight leaderboard in San Francisco.
The victories were well deserved after after the Canadian team made a rare corinthian gesture in professional sport, when they appeared on the startline with their hulls featuring the livery of the damaged Rockwool Denmark team.
The gesture was a helping hand to the Danes by the Canadian team owner who kindly offered to put Rockwool logos on the Candian F50, replacing his company's logo (Juvenescence), given that the Danes had such a tough time after hitting a mark in Los Angeles.
Rockwool certainly had a big payday for the Candian generosity - getting the Rockwool logo'd bows first over the finish line in two of the four races.
All skippers conceeded after the racing that the starts were particularly tricky.
In the first race most of the 11 boat fleet was early, with nine opting to luff up and three (NZL, GBR abd BRA) sailing out of the top end of the start box.
"It was good. We had a really good day today," reported North Star Canada skipper Giles Scott after the racing.
"There was plenty going on out there. We just kept our noses clean and sailed well."
With RockWool Denmark still out after suffering foil and foil case damage on the opening day of SailGP Los Angeles, last week, only 11 teams contested the racing, sailing in 10-16kt WSW winds blowing through the Golden Gate at the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
The shore crews had set up the F50s with the mid-range 24metre rigs, medium jibs, high speed rudders and the titanium and carbon T-Foils which have been used in the last four events.
"It was a day to push today. It was really nice flat water. I think almost all teams were pushing about as hard as they possibly could. But there's plenty going on with the race course as well. Plenty of calls to make," a relaxed Giles Scott GBR remarked.
"It's really nice to be on a bigger course for the first time in a while. Stretch your legs, pick a few shifts," he added.
On the basis of his performance in the last few regattas, Scott is fast emerging as hot favorite to skipper the INEOS Britannia team, should the Sir Jim Ratcliffe team go ahead.
The Flying Roos, skippered by Tom Slingsby (AUS) recorded a consistent scorecard of top four places, setting themselves up for a place in the Final, to be sailed after three more races in the Qualifier racing.
"When we got a better start, we didn't overtake as well, and when we got a poorer start, we did overtake - so we ended up with very similar results," was how Australian skipper Tom Slingsby summed up their day - where they never finished out of the top four and in that regard were the most consistent team on the water.
"I think twos, threes, fours made a really good day for us. Consistency is so important.
"There's a couple of times there where I thought we might be able to get into the top two and challenge for a win, but we made a couple of little errors here and there. But overall, we've got to be happy."
San Francisco is one of Slingsby's favorite venues - having sailed there extensively in the 2013 America's Cup - where he was part of the winning Oracle Team USA, which beat Emirates Team New Zealand by 11 races to eight, in the longest running America's Cup. It is also the venue for his three SailGP Grand Final wins - where the Australians walked away with a cool US$3million.
Consistency was also the keynote of the Spanish team's performance, placing in the top six in their four races, competing against an 11 boat fleet.
"We had okay starts, starting in the back, and then getting some small gains here and there," said skipper 2024 Olympic Gold Medalist Diego Botin. "And that's what it's all about. Is easier said than done, obviously."
"It's hard to get off the start and be consistent in that," explained Spanish strategist Nicole van der Velden. "Not having a first or last on around the first mark. So we were just trying to keep inside the middle range [of places], and then try to build from there during the rest of the race," she added.
However Spain did not follow that strategy in the third race, in which they scored an emphatic end to end win.
The top two teams, Canada and Australia look certain to make the Final in San Francisco on Sunday witha 12pt and 9pt lead respectively over third placed Spain on 29pts - 6pts ahead of France and New Zealand on 23pts.
The Black Foils (NZL) appeared to be reverting to their poor starting for that has characterised much of their racing in 2025, and which they seemed to have overcome in Los Angeles. However they were out the back door in all starts. But after the racing it was revealed that system gremlins had returned, becoming obvious mid-way through Race 2.
"We struggled a little bit," skipper Peter Burling confessed in the Mixed Zone after the conclusion of racing. "We couldn't quite get off the start line in good shape, and then we had a big issue with the wing screen shutting down on that boat for the last two and a half races. It appeared to shut down halfway through that second race. So I think the team did an amazing job just scrambling, and changing up our whole playbook, comms, and how everything worked, to get the boat around the track in reasonably good shape and kind of salvage a day."
"All in all, it'd be nice to be a little bit further up leaderboard, but could have definitely been a lot worse," he reflected.
"We had a few tight moments in that last race as well. So nice to have the boat in one piece, and we're looking forward to tomorrow."
The New Zealanders ability to work their way through from the back of the starting grid. "I think we overtook a few overtook," Burling said understating the Kiwi performance. "But definitely went backwards at times as well. It's a little frustrating not to have a few few better scores on the scoreboard."
Emirates GBR had a mixed day scoring a second and fourth placing in Races 2 and 3, but had an eight in the first race, and an embarrasing last, when they jammed the boat at the final mark rounding, losing two places to finish a leg behind the 10th placed Italians.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't really get it together," commented skipper British America's Cup co-helmsman Dylan Fletcher. "We struggled a couple of the races. So we'll have to have a look at what we need to work on overnight. But all in all, it was not our finest day."
"The starts were quite challenging today and quite difficult to be consistent. And ultimately, we had two bad starts and then couldn't really make the normal progress that we have been able to make back through the fleet."
Three further fleet races are due to be held on Sunday, with the top three advancing to the winner take all Final. At this point, barring a major upset, Northstar Canada can look forward to the second successive Final, with the Flying Roos set to join them.
The Diego Botin skippered Spanish team enjoys a six point margin over the French and New Zealand teams, which will also take quite an effort to erase.