Giles Scott of Emirates Great Britain earned his first SailGP victory on Monday morning (AEST), shortly after three-time defending champion Tom Slingsby and Team Australia capsized in a dramatic moment in the rainy, blustery inaugural ROCKWOOL Canadian Sail Grand Prix Halifax.
Scott, who elevated to skipper for Team Great Britain after Sir Ben Ainslie stepped aside in January, beat France and Denmark in the first all-European podium race in the four seasons of tech billionaire Larry Ellison's global league.
While Scott enjoyed his first Champagne shower as skipper, a frustrated Slingsby said a technical issue led to the capsize of his 50-foot foiling catamaran that might have cost the Aussies a spot in the podium race.
READ MORE: 'Spare me': Forgetful Maroons are talking 'rubbish'
READ MORE: Fuming tennis star's outrageous umpire request after line call
READ MORE: 80k fans on a Monday! Tillies' remarkable pulling power
The Aussies were leading the fifth and final fleet race when the Flying Roo suddenly rolled over, with the tip of its wingsail - adorned with the outline of a yellow kangaroo - resting in the water.
Unlike Team USA's scary capsize in Bermuda that saw crew members fall through the wing earlier this year, the Australia's thankfully escaped unharmed.
Slingsby said he fell out of the cockpit and was able to hold on, and that strategist Natasha Bryant could have easily fallen.
"We were just as shocked as anyone," said Slingsby.
"We were just going upwind and got out to a nice lead and were happy until the wing inverted the wrong way.
“It was a pretty dangerous situation how quickly it happened but everyone's safe.
"We saw this happen with the US team in Bermuda, but the difference is that theirs was caused by human error - someone accidentally pressing the button to invert the wing - whereas ours was caused by the tech malfunctioning.
"We've got to just be thankful for that and try to get the boat working and we've got two events to try to pull back in."
The Aussies almost capsized in the fourth fleet race, heeling over dangerously before getting the cat under control.
It was just the second time in SailGP history that a team from Down Under wasn't in the podium race.
It was a huge victory for Scott, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who became skipper when Ainslie stepped aside on January 4, mostly to focus on the America's Cup later this year.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7uoI1YyTdd/?utm_source=ig_embed&Ainslie, the most decorated Olympic sailor in history with four golds and a silver, remains CEO and majority owner of the British SailGP team. Scott is on Ainslie's America's Cup team, INEOS Britannia.
Scott had a remarkably consistent weekend, going 3-5-2-3-2 in the fleet races before dominating the podium race in rain and gusting wind.
Britain reached the podium race for the first time since Ainslie skippered it to consecutive regatta wins in September.
“Buzzing. Absolutely buzzing,” Scott said.
“Awesome day. Just feel very fortunate to have an amazing crew to sail with. We nailed it this weekend. Really stoked.”
Scott's crew includes strategist Hannah Mills, the most-decorated female Olympic sailor with two golds and a silver.
The British are sixth in the season standings, 13 points out of podium position with two regattas to go before the $2 million, winner-take-all Grand Final among the top three boats on July 15 in San Francisco (AEST).
New Zealand, led by reigning two-time America's Cup champion helmsman Peter Burling, continues to lead the season standings.
Diego Botin of Spain jumped into second place overall, 11 points behind the Kiwis and one point ahead of the Aussies, who are six points clear of France.
Spain finished fourth, the Kiwis fifth and the Aussies seventh in Halifax.
Slingsby said the Aussies had an issue in the fourth race with the button that inverts the wingsail.
“We didn't know what happened and we sort of scrambled our way out of it, managed to not capsize,” he said.
https://twitter.com/SailGPAUS/status/1797055636229767646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw“There was a button malfunction. Essentially the boat registered that a button had been pressed which hadn't been. When this button on the boat malfunctions and it inverts the wing it's pretty much an instant capsize.”
Slingsby said the boat's electronics got wet and the shore crew was having a hard time getting the foils up to crane it out of the water.
“It's turned into a bit of a major,” he said.
Sail GP Australia released a statement on the incident on Monday (AEST).
"Today, the Australia Team capsized in Halifax during the last upwind leg of fleet race five," the statement began.
"All athletes are accounted for and no injuries were sustained.
"The boat has been recovered and the extent of the damage is currently being assessed. Further details will be released as they become available."
Due to high winds that limited the ability to safely crane all 10 catamarans into the water, Switzerland and the United States weren't able to race Monday morning (AEST).
The shore crew craned boats into the water based on the standings from Sunday (AEST).
from WWOS https://ift.tt/WMqa4tO
via IFTTT
0 Comments