SailGP: Three teams involved in another pre-start collision - Day 2
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 31 May 17:58 PDT
Collision involving United States SailGP Team Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team at the start of Race 3 on Day 2 - Mubadala New York Sail GP - New York, USA - May .31, 2026 © Ricardo Pinto/SailGP
There was spectacular "racing" and spectacular performances on Day 2 of the Mubadala SailGP New York.
Once again, there was a major collision involving three boats, taking them all out of the race, but, fortunately and surprisingly, the event organisers did not report any injuries.
The day got off to an interesting start with organisers declaring that no points would be awarded for Saturday's three races in which only two boats, Spain and Great Britain, competed in all races, with Spain taking the points awarded on the day. However, it is unprecedented in sailing for a three-race series to be declared a nullity after they were started, sailed, finished, and winners declared. Spain is understood to be protesting the Decision.
Spain's woes continued when they had hydraulic issues before the start of racing that the support team were unable to repair, and they took no further part in the day's racing.
Despite the red mist that engulfed much of the event, several teams could take considerable encouragement from their racing performances.
Standing tall was the home USA SailGP team, who have steadily worked on getting their processes right - rather than going for the sugar fix of getting some quick runs on the board for the fans and investors. Today they had a win and a second place on their scorecard, before the big prang in Race 3. Even that was enough to get the home team into equal third on points, prior to their penalty points deduction.
Canada, who have been on the ropes for much of Season 6, without being able to come up with any real answers, other than to say they were doing data analysis - both on their own team and competitors, looking for the performance diamonds that would turn their season around, especially going into their home event in Halifax in three weeks. Today, Northstar Canada made their first Final of the season, with a win in the last race, and some relatively consistent sailing in the previous two races.
Slingsby did another Slingsby.
With the Bonds Flying Roos finishing 9th in the first race, they looked to be gone, with only two races remaining to effect some sort of recovery. It took until just the third Leg of today's second race for the Australians to be dicing with the home team for the race lead. They dropped back to finish second, behind the USA, and lay in sixth overall on the points table, but only 2pts shy of third overall, with just one race remaining.
Having avoided the startline mêlée, which cut the fleet down to just seven boats, removing some of the mid-fleet rig turbulence that has been a feature of full fleet racing, the Australian team clicked into the lead group, finishing 11 secs ahead of Emirates Great Britain, who tied on time with Deutsche Bank Germany for fourth and fifth place. The Bonds Flying Roos were third overall, tied with the USA, before the USA had 7 points deducted for the start line incident.
After three races in the Qualifiers, Canada, Great Britain and Australia progressed to the Final. Australia had been equal with the USA on points, but the deduction of 10 penalty points.
The startline raft-up involved three boats, and could have been a lot worse. (Go to 58m.00s in the video above to see a replay of the start from 12 seconds out.)
Essentially, the fleet at the leeward end of the line misjudged the effect of the tidal current. A few seconds before the start, Italy, helmed by Phil Robertson, realised they were going to be a premature starter and began to luff, with Switzerland astern and even closer to the line. Immediately before the start, Red Bull Italy started sailing parallel to the start line, with a group of boats to windward and being pushed down by the tide.
Brazil started their run from the back of the start box, and came in at speed, going for a gap, which was closed out by Italy and USA. That created a three-way among Brazil, Italy and the USA.
The German team were able to keep plenty of room between them and Australia, the next boat to windward, and finished third in the race.