SailGP in St Tropez: "Wind whisperer" Nathan Outteridge leads Team Japan to victory

At the SailGP in Saint-Tropez, the teams turned the results of the current second season upside down in many respects: Australian 49er Olympic champion Nathan Outterdige and his Team Japan finally won another regatta. In contrast, the previous season's high-flyer Tom Slingsby and his Team Australia finished in last place. Slingsby had won the previous SailGP in Denmark and impressively demonstrated his world class in the outstanding field at the Moth World Championship a week ago with 13 out of a possible 14 wins and his second World Championship title in a row, even as a soloist. But on this light windy weekend in France, things did not go according to plan for the likeable helmsman from Down Under. Sir Ben Ainslie and his British SailGP team were also not satisfied with sixth place. Three-time Olympic 49er medallist and Olympic champion Peter Burling and his New Zealand team worked their way up. As newcomers to the season, the Kiwis sailed to fourth place in France behind the US team led by helmsman Jimmy Spithill in second place and the third-placed Spaniards with New Zealand match race world champion Phil Robertson and Spanish Nacra 17 Olympian Florian van Trittel on board.

For the overall standings of the elite league, at the end of the season only the winners of the final race will receive one million US dollars in prize money, the surprising results meant above all that the teams were closer together and the tension increased. Only ten points separate the new Japanese leaders and the French in last place after five of nine regattas. Outteridge and his crew took the lead with 37 points, ahead of the USA and Australia with 35 points each. They are followed by the most successful sailor in Olympic history with 34 points: four-time gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie and Team Great Britain are fourth, just over halfway through the series, ahead of the up-and-coming young Spaniards (31 points). The New Zealanders are sixth ahead of Denmark and France. For Billy Besson and his hungry French team, the home game did not go according to plan. The penultimate place in Saint-Tropez slowed "Les Bleus" down again after two strong and two weaker performances this season and gave them the red lantern of the bottom of the season standings.

Off Saint-Tropez, the professionals had to contend with light late summer winds like at Kieler Woche. The first use of the alternative mammoth 29 metre masts, specially developed for flat conditions, came at just the right time. The Japanese made the most of the new large wings and took their second win of the season. Nathan Outteridge once again lived up to his nickname of "wind whisperer". In the triple final, his team relegated the US team and Spain to second place. "We're obviously very happy with winning another regatta," said Outteridge, "it's always good to reach a final. At the end of the day, it's all good practice for the really important and crucial final at the end of this season where there's a million dollars at stake." On the new light wind rigs, Outteridge said: "Maybe we've practised a bit more with them. But that doesn't really apply to me. I had about an hour with them in Aarhus. But Chris Draper had three days with them. So we knew what to expect in terms of bigger and heavier. Yes, you can generate more power with them. But it wasn't really easier to get on the foils with them."

Jimmy Spithill, America's Cup winner and helmsman of the US team, said: "We have to congratulate Team Japan. They simply sailed very well. But we are also pleased with second place in Saint-Tropez. It's the first event where we haven't had an incident on the water, someone breaking a bone or colliding with an object." Spithill wouldn't be himself if he hadn't added this challenge: "We still have some time. There are still a few regattas to come and we just need to do our job and get the results, then we'll be in the game for the one million bucks." The next SailGP regatta will take place on 9 and 10 October in Cádiz, Andalusia. It will be the last meeting of the teams in Europe before the entourage moves Down Under and meets there just before Christmas on 17 and 18 December for the SailGP in Sydney. Click here for the SailGP results from Saint-Tropez and the interim results for the season (please click!).