At times, it was almost painful to watch how slowly the F50 foilers struggled along the shortened courses during the short programme on the first day of the Rolex Switzerland SailGP on Lake Geneva. Yes, the racing catamarans can do that too. And sailing, as a natural sport, involves both strong and light winds. But the spectacle for spectators is at its best in stronger winds, such as on the Record route from Sassnitz In August, it’s a bit bigger than the sometimes gruelling crawling competition this Saturday.
In the neck-and-neck battle for victory in Geneva, on day one of the closely contested Group A, the Danish team Rockwool Racing and the Swedish team Artemis both finished the course with six points each. Close behind are DS Automobiles France and Spain’s Los Gallos, both on five points. They are followed by Mubadala Brazil (4 points), Team Germany by Deutsche Bank (2 points) and the US team with guest rider Martine Grael (0 points).
SailGP on Lake Geneva: Penalties cost Team Germany two places
In Group A, only two of the three scheduled races took place on Saturday. Erik Kosegarten-Heil and Team Germany got off to a strong start in the challenging sailing conditions, with almost no wind, finishing in second place. Team Germany crossed the line 26 seconds behind the winning Team Artemis in the first race.
“Things went quite well for us in the first race. We’d read the wind correctly and rounded the first mark well. We foiled well and had a fairly controlled race,” reported helmsman Erik Kosegarten-Heil. However, two controversial last-minute penalties in the second race of Group A cost the blue-and-white GER foiler two places. They were left with only seventh and last place.
“In the second race, everything that could have gone wrong did: an unnecessary tussle with Spain at the start. A wind shift against us. Jury decisions against us.” Erik Kosegarten-Heil
Towards the end of the race, Team Germany had worked their way up to fifth place, ahead of the Swedish Team Artemis and the US team. Then, at the final mark before the finish line, a penalty was first imposed on Team Artemis because, in the umpires’ view, the Germans had not given the Swedes, who were sailing on the inside, sufficient room.
One penalty, two free kicks and a boot-to-boot collision
This was followed by a second penalty at the same mark, as the US team also forced their way in on the inside whilst travelling at a slightly higher speed. Although the Americans did not have a ‘classic’ right of way in this instance, the officials took the view that, as Team Germany had already been penalised, the Germans were not entitled to block the US team’s path.
Erik Kosegarten-Heil felt that neither penalty was justified, explaining in an interview with ZDF: “In the first situation with Sweden, we believe we left enough space. We’d already been given a penalty for that. The second situation was as follows: we still had the inside lane at the buoy and the Americans weren’t overlapping us. We simply rounded the buoy as normal and were given a penalty for it. That’s completely incomprehensible to me.”
"We’ll be having an interesting debrief with the referees tomorrow." Erik Kosegarten-Heil
The TV footage suggested there had been contact between the German and American teams, which was later confirmed. The referees did not award the second penalty until after some deliberation, by which time Team Germany had almost reached the finish line. As a result, the US team, with Martine Grael at the helm, overtook the German team in the standings for this second Group A race; moreover, two points were deducted from the German team’s tally as a result of the two penalties, leaving them with just two points initially.
Swiss SailGP: winds of four to six knots
Meanwhile, on a quiet Saturday, Group B even managed to complete a third race – something Group A failed to do. Across all three races, two of the favourites came out on top: Tom Slingsby’s Bonds Flying Roos (10 points) and Peter Burling’s Black Foils (9 points). Lurking just behind them ahead of race day two are Team Emirates GBR and Sébastien Schnitzer’s Team Explora Journeys Swiss (both on 8 points).
The Swiss home team experienced the most dramatic rollercoaster of emotions on SailGP Saturday. Skipper Sébastien Schneiter and his three crewmates finished last in the first race in their Group B. They then went on to win the following race. In the third race, they crossed the line in third place, as the wind dropped to below four knots at times. On Sunday, the Swiss will start from a strong fourth position in the battle to reach the final, which features the top two teams from each group.
The wind forecasts suggested there would be little more wind for the SailGP Sunday final on Lake Geneva than there had been on Saturday. “We’ve got light winds again, just like today – hopefully a bit more,” said Erik Kosegarten-Heil. The league announced in the evening that two fleet races were still to be held for each of the two groups on Sunday. This would mean that Group A, featuring Team Germany, would have one race fewer than Group B going into the final – and one race fewer for their hoped-for comeback.
REPLAY! Click here to watch the repeat of the ZDF live broadcast of day one of Rolex Switzerland SailGP on Lake Geneva. If you’d like to watch the scenes involving Team Germany in the second run, which led to the two penalties, fast-forward to 1:15:07.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter