SailGP: Spain top leaderboard in New York in a murky day on the Hudson River - Day 1
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com 8 Jun 08:23 AEST
Spain SailGP Team leads USA SailGP Team front of the SailGP Grandstand and the SailGP Race Stadium on Race Day 1 of the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix © Simon Bruty/SailGP
Spain top the leaderboard after the first day of racing in the Mubadala New York Grand Prix, after a consistent day's sailing on the murkey and rainswept Hudson River.
Led by Diego Botin 2024 Olympic Gold medalist in the 49er class, the Spanish team, who are also the Season 4 champions were the most consistent of the 12 teams racing, with a 1,4,3 scorecard, from the three races sailed in the first day of Qualifying.
The Spanish were the most consistent of the 12 teams sailing with the 24metre wings and on the light weather L-foils for the first time since the T-Foils were first seen in Auckland, in the second regatta of the season. In Practice sessions earlier in the week the teams raced with a mix of "L" (as originally used on the then AC50s in the 2017 America's Cup) and T-Foils with the older foils getting the nod in these conditions.
In a further concession to the light winds, crews sailed three-up for the first race to reduce weight, and four-up for the other two rces.
Winds were 8kts making for marginal foiling conditions at times in this boat configuration. An otherwise tame race was lifted by the light air foils with the big 29 metre wings, being left ashore, with some still not complete after the month long pit-stop following the Australian rig collapse in San Francisco triggering the cancellation of the Rio de Janeiro leg of the 14 event series.
Once on their foils, the F50s began generating their own apparent wind - making continuance in that airborne state much easier, but of course it was very arresting if a team crashed back into the fast flowing Hudson.
The ability to switch different foil types into the same foil cartridge is a significant achievement for the shore and design teams, in a fleet of this size and standard.
Denmark is second overall on the overnight leaderboard, and are tied on points with third placed France on 20pts - a big 5pt margin behind Spain and just 1pt ahead of the New Zealanders.
New Zealand's BlackFoils lie in a fortunate 4th overall, after winning the last race, and placing second in the opener. They crashed out of the second race in 11th place, after a appalling start, from which they never recovered, and were a leg of the course behind the Australians, who had an emphatic win. However the Flying Roos mirrored the Kiwis performance in the next race, finishing 10th, after placing fifth in the first race and winning the second. They lie on the midway point on the overnight leaderboard in 6th place overall.
In Race 1: Spain got a jump of a boatlength at a perfectly judged start, heading into the not insignificant current, which saw the marks running bow-waves, and held her advantage until the finish. On the second, upwind leg the F50s sailed in a mix of displacement and foiling states. New Zealand moved up one place to sit in second - which they held for the rest of the leg, with Denmark third. The German team also got off to a fast start, and were second at Mark 1, but were passed by the Kiwis and Denmark soon after rounding the mark, and tryying to sail upwind into what looked to be a current worthy of the Solent, of about 5kts.
Race 2: Spain were dunger-last away from the start, which was led away by full-foiling Australia, who led at Mark 1 with Spain back in 12th position in a race if which they would go on to finish 4th. The Kiwis suffered another bout of their usual starting malaise, being 10th around Mark 1, and unable to recover. The Ausralians were penalised for not giving Brazil sufficent room at Mark 1 and were penalised, however regained the lost ground on the second leg. Brazil regained the lead, by mark 2, but were passed by the faster sailing Australians. Those two sailed off into the New York murk for Mark 3, and a shortened leg. Canada did well to make it out of the poleton to finish 3rd , with Spain emerging from the turbulent air of the ruck to finish 4th after being back at 9th at Mark 6.
Race 3: Race 3 began just as a new murky rainsquall moved across the fleet, reducing visibility to a handful of metres and obscuring the landmarks ashore, and the windshifts and puffs on the water. New Zealand scored an end to end win in a race that was sailed in with the Kiwis only foiling for 80% of the time.
Canada, Great Britain and Australia were stuck in a pack of their own at the back of the fleet. At the end of Leg 3, the fleet crawled up the remainder of the leg, off the foils and pushing against the swift current. At the other end of the course the Kiwis were foiling and with some masterful sailing and foil control, lapped half of the fleet. Their dream run came to an end mid fleet, when they dropped back into displacment mode.
Burling and friends continued on to win with Denmark second and Spain recovering well from 8th to be 3rd at the finish. To add to the ignomy of being so far behind, the race was terminated after 10 minutes lapsed from the finish of the lead boat - wit Italy and Australia not making the finish deadline.
On points the top six boats have a clear edge going into the final two races to decide the three Finalists. Outside the two boats in equal 5th on 17pts, there is a 5pt gap to the seventh boat. The winner of the Mubadala Grand Prix - New York, will be determined by which team wins the winner take all Final Race, on Sunday afternoon.