SailGP’s Back-to-Back Crash Course
In the wake of SailGP’s canceled Brazil event, we look back at the two West Coast events, the second of which included the epic wing failure that led to the cancellation of the May event in Rio. With the New York race scheduled for early June, the aim is to make all the necessary repairs during the unforeseen, extended break.
Two sunny California weekends were served up for SailGP’s first back-to-back races, with the Rolex Los Angeles and then the Oracle San Francisco Grand Prix delivering the thrills, spills and excitement the League was hoping for. Both events filled the grandstands, exceeding expectations on all counts.
Long before Russell Coutts and Larry Ellison reinvented the America’s Cup and now SailGP, there were the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses traveling from town to town, setting up and breaking down their tents and moving trailers, elephants and clowns weekend after weekend as they barnstormed their brand to as many people as possible, which is where SailGP is now, with 14 events and counting before the novelty of flying sailboats wears off.
In L.A. it was kelp that made an unexpected appearance; we thought it was just off Point Loma in San Diego! In many cases, it was worse than dragging an anchor as the teams deployed a variety of unique approaches to shedding the dreaded weed.
In S.F., it was the notorious shifty winds, but more importantly, playing the different currents, and the Spanish seemed to play that game the best. Canadian driver Giles Scott also saw the effect as he made several bold moves, splitting from the fleet to make huge gains by mastering the wind and flying across the incoming currents flooding the Bay.
Spain triumphed in San Francisco, defeating NorthStar Canada (second) and France (third) to become the fifth winner in five events this season. Despite a catastrophic wing collapse at the start of race seven, Australia moves into first overall. All athletes are accounted for with no injuries on board. The cause of the incident is not yet known.
In a nail-biting winner-takes-all final race, France hit the line flying, surging ahead to win the sprint to mark one. But after splitting the course at the second gate, Spain raced away with the lead, sweeping the line in first ahead of Canada in second and Les Bleus in third.
“It feels amazing to win. It was super-tight racing and we were really happy with our weekend, to come out on top and get into the final,” said Spanish team strategist Nicole van der Velden. “We were feeling quite confident with how we were sailing and how we were starting, so super-happy to finish well in the final. It’s great to get two-for-two in San Francisco. Now, a little bit of celebration and back to focus for the next event.”