Ebb and flow
SailGP finale is a thriller
Tom Slingsby’s Australia SailGP Team won the $1m prize in the season’s grand final amid great drama on San Francisco Bay.
It was the second overall victory for Slingsby and his team, who were the innaugural SailGP winners in the series’ first season.
The Great Britain SailGP team, led by Sir Ben Ainslie, were second at the action-packed San Francisco event and finished the season fourth overall, after a high-speed collision at an earlier event put them down the rankings.
Sir Ben’s team won $35,000 for coming second in the SailGP Impact League, which “rewards positive actions” in sustainable travel, tech, single-use plastic and communications.
But it was the Australians’ day, Slingsby’s team prevailing over rivals Nathan Outteridge’s Japan and Jimmy Spithill’s United States.
In difficult conditions and unpredictable racing, rookie Spanish driver Jordi Xammar crashed into Spithill’s F50 and tore a hole in the back of the USA catamaran. This required the US team to undertake frantic on-water repairs to get ready for the grand final and ended Spain’s racing.
In the next race, France and New Zealand collided – resulting in four penalty points for Peter Burling and crew, despite being the right of way boat – as Australia prevailed to win the Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix ahead of Great Britain and Japan.
The championship’s grand final then started, with the US taking an early lead, only
