It was Spain's Los Gallos who gave the Australian home team a run for their money on the first of two days of racing at the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix at the birthplace of the league. Finishing 5th, 1st, 1st, 5th and 32nd, Diego Botin and his team topped the 11-boat fleet after the first four Saturday races. The results of the Australian top favourites were similarly good, but with 1st, 8th, 6th and 1st places they reflected the unpredictable and sometimes very light winds in Sydney Harbour even more.
Starting problems for the Germany SailGP Team
With 28 points, Tom Slingsby and the Bonds Flying Roos were initially in second place after four races, ahead of the Swedish newcomer team Artemis (26 points). The reigning SailGP champions came off the complicated, light-winded SailGP course on Saturday evening weaker than recently in more powerful winds. Ranks 3, 7, 5 and 6 were initially only enough for the Brits to score 23 points and fourth place in the battle of the favourites for a place in the final with the top three on Sunday.
The Germany SailGP Team avoided a place in the cellar at the halfway point, having started this second Down Under summit in a weak position with 8th, 9th and 9th place, but then made up some ground in the final sprint of the day with second place in the fourth race. In race one, everything initially looked like a good start before Black-Red-Gold was overrun by the field. Sailing chess under cloudy skies, after ups and downs, the five crews on the big foils finished in eighth place.
In the second race, helmsman Erik Kosegarten-Heil and his crew also only crossed the start line in midfield. The teams had to parry 30-degree turns on the course. The co-favoured Australians and Brits conceded penalties. Martine Grael and her team Mubadala Brazil put in a good performance in this race. The only helmswoman in the SailGP fleet had to start with a new wing trimmer and a new strategist at short notice, but defended her sixth place in race two despite harsh attacks from the British on the home straight. Team Germany had to be satisfied with ninth place, but they were not.
Good or bad were close together
Despite promising positioning in the pre-start phase, the German racing team only managed ninth place in the third race of the day. A narrow early start and the expensive penalty imposed by the referees, which also affected Bonds Flying Roos and the Danish team Rockwool Racing, dashed any hopes of a better German result. The knot burst in race four, although Black-Red-Gold had to take another penalty and initially dropped back to seventh place.
With successful positioning on the course, they finally managed to break through to the front as the race progressed, while favourites such as the British fell off the foils or the Australians had to take a penalty for crossing the course boundary. The latter nevertheless won the fourth race.
"You could look really good and really bad today. I don't know where we stand at the end of this day. We had two good races and two bad races," Australia's three-time SailGP record holder Tom Slingsby summed up at the halfway point on Saturday evening in Sydney. He also recalled the frustration of last season, saying: "Last year we reached a final seven or eight times but couldn't win an event. That was pretty frustrating." The Australians had already broken the spell with their victory in Auckland.
Painful day: Team Germany "pops" too early
But even more important for the Bonds Flying Roos would be a win this weekend at home. Day two, for which similarly difficult light wind conditions are forecast, will show whether this can be achieved. On Saturday evening, helmsman Nicolai Sehested (Rockwool Denmark), strategist Julia Gross (Artemis Racing), wing trimmer Iain "Goobs" Jensen (Artemis Racing) on his comeback from injury and Spanish flight controller Joel Rodriguez (Los Gallos) were crowned best in their domains.
Team Germany will start race day two from seventh position with 16 points on their Sydney account and thus only half as many points as the Spanish leaders on Sunday, but were able to leave the Danes, Brazilians and Canadians behind at the start. Click here for the intermediate results after the first four races.
The conditions were difficult. We had a lot of ups and downs." Erik Kosegarten-Heil
The point at which the Germany SailGP Team by Deutsche Bank "could have scored a lot more points", says helmsman Erik Kosegarten-Heil, "was the first pop on the foils. We always tried a bit too early. If you fail in that attempt, someone passes you and you're a bit in the wake of the whole fleet. That was the point that hurt the most today."
Under the clouds of Sydney: twisting, gusty, hectic
According to the driver, there were also "a few little things": Sometimes it was difficult at the start, sometimes the "comms" failed. Erik Kosegarten-Heil's interim assessment: "We're not entirely satisfied, but we still made sure we stayed in the game with the last race. We'll continue tomorrow." On Sunday, Team Germany would have to make up ten points on Team Artemis, who are in third place after day one, to reach the final.
Starter Anna Barth reported a "hectic day". It was "very, very windy, very gusty" on the course. Her assessment: "It was definitely an open game. It wasn't the case that once you were in front, you were gone. The doors remained open, as we saw in the last race. The most important thing was to get on the foils and stay on the foils, to recognise the gusts and lanes. There was also a bit of weather influence from the clouds. It wasn't your typical Sydney day, but we made the best of it in the end. This also leaves the door open for us to attack again."
"It's always good to end a day on a high." Anna Barth
Not in the Sydney SailGP programme after the shock collision in Auckland New Zealanders and Frenchmen, whose demolished boats are still being repaired. However, France's helmsman Quentin Delapierre, as a SailGP observer in Sydney, was pleased that his DS Automobiles Team France will be able to compete again at the next Rolex SailGP - the premiere in Rio de Janeiro on 11 and 12 April - according to league boss Sir Russell Coutts. The French F50 spoiler has been repaired at Southern Spars in Auckland and will be freshly painted this weekend.
SailGP examines new security measures
Coutts praised once again the reactions of both teams involved in the crash. He said it was good to hear that both athletes injured in the collision were on the road to recovery. He knew that Louis Sinclair's recovery, who had undergone surgery after breaking his leg, was progressing and had spoken to his compatriot personally. "That's the best news," said Coutts. According to Quentin Delapierre, France's strategist Manon Audinet was hospitalised for a fortnight, but was already back in action as a commentator this weekend.
Referring to the badly damaged boats, the injured sailors and possible safety upgrades, founder and SailGP helmsman Coutts said: "There are design elements that we can implant to make the boats safer. The engineers are going through that right now." However, this is a "more complex process than some people realise", said Coutts, who held out the prospect of corresponding modifications in the future. According to Coutts, these possible changes could involve modifications to the boats, their control systems, the protection of athletes in impact situations or even the athletes' clothing.
"I'm sure we have very good people involved," said Coutts. He also reaffirmed the SailGP's intention to divide the fleet in the coming season. With the geometry and alignment of the courses, the race organisers have already taken countermeasures in the area of risk. Coutts named further measures in favour of athlete safety, but also said: "Will they take away all the risks? No, of course not. But they are decisive steps towards making the sport safer."
On ZDF, the replay of day one with commentary by Nils Kaben is available from midday to see here. The English-language original from early Saturday morning can be found here:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
