Weather wreaks havoc on opening day in New York as the BONDS Flying Roos stay in the fight
by BONDS Flying Roos 8 Jun 14:40 PDT
June 7-8, 2025
France SailGP Team, BONDS Flying Roos SailGP, and Red Bull Italy SailGP Team pass by the Statue of Liberty during a practice session ahead of the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix in New York, USA. Friday 6 June . Rolex SailGP Championship Event 6 Season © Simon Bruty for SailGP
Unpredictable weather proved challenging for all 12 teams on the opening day of the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix, turning the Hudson River into a battleground.
Amid the chaos, the BONDS Flying Roos stayed in the fight, after a victory in race two saw them finish middle of the pack and remain firmly in contention heading into Sunday's showdown. The Australians ended the day with a mixed result of 5-1-10 standings.
As thousands of fans lined Governors Island, SailGP made its highly-anticipated return to the Big Apple for the sixth stop of the 2025 Season Calendar. A tricky racecourse, light winds and rain demanded tactical precision across the flying F50 fleet, testing each team's skill to beat the elements, and ultimately nail their starts.
Driver, CEO and Co-owner Tom Slingsby commented on the volatile conditions saying, "It was an up and down day. The rain makes it quite tough to see and the wind comes in and out when it's raining like this. It's very hard to read and then the current was playing havoc with us. At times, when the wind would die, the current was stronger than the wind and the boat. We were just really struggling to get around the course at times."
The Aussies had a tough fleet race two against Brazil where a penalty halted their ability to cinch the win. Describing the close-call, Slingsby said, "We had a tight incident with Brazil. It was close and could have gone either way. We need to just learn from it and take the lessons into tomorrow.
Peter Burling's Black Foils and Spain also claimed a fleet race win each as the day delivered drama at every turn, with the Aussies showing flashes of brilliance and setting the stage for a fierce fightback on Super Sunday.
Despite the weather proving to be a formidable opponent today, the BONDS Flying Roos are channelling their frustration into motivation, ready to prove their skill to secure a spot in Sunday's Final.
Slingsby said, "This was just a tough day. We didn't get through it in as good a shape as we'd like but the forecast tomorrow looks great so we're going to focus on that."
With the debut of new Hollywood co-owners Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds this week, and iconic Aussie underwear brand BONDS coming on board as Title Partner, the BONDS Flying Roos is more fired up than ever to demonstrate the Aussie grit they are renowned for.
All to play for tomorrow (Monday 9 June) when racing continues from 5:30am to 7am AEST. Australians can catch all the high-speed action live on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.