SailGP capsize keeps Great Britain out of the podium

After a dramatic afternoon in Cadiz, Australia won the Spain Sail Grand Prix and returned to the top of the Season Championship ahead of their home event in Sydney. Great Britain capsized seconds after starting the Final race. 

Despite the fleet containing seven boats instead of the usual eight, the racing was dramatic and the strong winds resulted in an event with a top speed of 96.3 km/h set by Tom Slingsby’s Australia. This team had also claimed the last fleet race of the day, their only fleet race win of the entire weekend. 

The United States sit second in the Season Championship with the same points as Japan who is in third. Great Britain sits four points back in fourth despite their capsize, while New Zealand ended the event in fifth, the same position as they currently sit in the rankings. 

Windy conditions caused capsizes

The Great Britain SailGP Team dealt a huge blow in the FInal for the Spain Sail Grand Prix. They capsized just seconds into the winner-takes-all race while leading the competition. Due to the strong winds in Cadiz, their F50 keeled over, bringing the Brits’ final to an end. Thankfully all six athletes onboard were accounted for after the incident. 

The windy conditions in Cadiz also caused damage to the Spanish team. The hosts ruled out the entirety of Sunday’s racing due to a capsize during practice that caused major damage to the F50. This condemned the team to seventh place, falling behind the Danish team. 

However, Spain still finished ahead of France. The New Driver Quentin Delapierre had small expectations given he just had a week’s worth of training on the F50 and two last place finishes on Race Day 1. However the driver’s potential shone through Sunday’s racing as he finished fourth in the final fleet race. 

The Season Championship rankings for the SailGP are as follow:

1. Australia (Tom Slingsby) 45
2. United States (Jimmy Spithill) 44
3. Japan (Nathan Outteridge) 44
4. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie) 40
5. New Zealand (Peter Burling) 36
6. Spain (Phil Robertson) 35
7. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested) 33
8. France (Quentin Delapierre) 31

The next event in the flying F50 catamarans will take place in the Australia Sail Grand Prix taking place in Sydney, presented by KPMG, from the 17th to the 18th of December.