SailGP: Flying Roos win Final by over three minutes - Sassnitz Day 2
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ 23 Aug 07:50 PDT
Bonds Flying Roos win the Final - Day 2 - Rockwool Germany Sail Grand Prix - Sassnitz - August 23, 2026 © Andrew Baker/SailGP
The Flying Roos were ashore and on their way to pick up the winner's trophy, while the other three teams were still racing for second place, in a bizarre Event Final at SailGP Germany.
The Australians' winning margin was 3 min 9secs, or at their last-leg foiling speed of 48km/h, which extends to 2.5km. Were they on a golf course, Tom Slingsby and friends were already in the Clubhouse.
The 13-team SailGP fleet experienced four seasons in 90 minutes of racing as Sassnitz teased the sailors with brilliant sunshine, but with increasingly frequent rain squalls which had the unfortunate trait of killing the breeze on one side of the course, while remaining at foiling strength and more on the other.
That should not detract from the Tom Slingsby sailing masterclass, as the Australians picked the shifts and pressure to perfection, which began with the execution of a split-second accurate start in the Final.
A few events ago, Northstar Canada were querying the meaning of life after a dismal set of results and no obvious work-ons. But in the Final, they executed a series of perfectly judged moves that got them from a position where they had no rights into one where they controlled the outcome of the minor places.
The long story short of the Final was that it started in a rain squall, with winds officially recorded at 17 kts but more likely over 20 kts. The Flying Roos got a start befitting their name, and took off down the Sprint leg to round Mark 1 with a handy lead, which they never looked like losing.
Behind them the places swapped between Black Foils, Los Gallos and Northstar Canada, as the minor plecegetters tried various strategies to both find pressure and with a favourable shift as a bonus.
In the end, Slingsby did a Slingsby, showing once again his ability to sail under pressure when it really counted, and turn a modest advantage into a winging margin. This time he carried the breeze and foiled around Mark 5 and all the way to the finish.
Behind him, Canada, New Zealand and Spain swapped sides of the course, right of way over each other, while dropping on and off the foils. In the end the wind dropped to the point where no-one could foil, and they rounded the final mark in a heap at displacement speed.
Double Olympic Gold medalist Giles Scott, while the give-way boat to his other two competitors, managed to thread his way between the other two, and got into a position, where he was closest to the course boundary for the finishing leg.
As the three trundled down the course still at displacement speed, Scott just waited for his moment, called for room at the course boundary obstruction, forcing the other two to swing away, and the Canadians finished second.
Meanwhile the Australians, who had long finished and taken the $400,000 first prize, watched the race play out from a support boat as they were ferried ashore for the prizegiving. In fact, they were at the top of the steps and about to enter the back of the stadium, but still had time to turn around and watch the final metres play out in slow motion.
The minor prizemoney went to Northstar Canada, with Los Gallos third and the Black Foils in fourth place.