Once again there has been a broken wing in the SailGP: Off Portsmouth, this time it was the French, who were hit in training before the first race start. Fortunately, none of the sailors on board were injured in the incident. Nevertheless, the breakage hit both the French team and the league hard. Les Bleus will probably not be able to compete in any more races this Portsmouth weekend. In this case, the jury will decide whether they will receive any points compensation due to a technical error that was not their fault.
Another SailGP wing breakage with many consequences
However, the break is also potentially serious for the league. The wings had only just been overhauled and strengthened after the dramatic Australian wing failure in San Francisco in March. The league had even cancelled the planned Brazilian premiere in Rio de Janeiro. In New York, the teams raced around the course with strengthened wings without any serious breakage problems. The difficulties seemed to have been resolved.
Now the setback that the French have to deal with. The league has announced an investigation and more facts about the latest breach. Without Les Bleus, who were so brutally thwarted and had recently sailed to the podium in both San Francisco and New York, the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth nevertheless started on time with the four races scheduled for the first day of racing.
While the British team around driver Dylan Fletcher, under pressure after recent poor results, delivered a masterful performance and led the classification on Saturday evening after finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 2nd, others had more trouble. This was particularly true for the Germany SailGP team, who started the day with serious problems. First a late start, then an early start and another weak start led to 11th, 9th and 9th place in the truncated field of just eleven teams, before a fine recovery in the fourth race with fourth place.
The Germany SailGP Team with starting problems
"We got over the course well, but had a sh... start," said helmsman Erik Kosegarten-Heil, summarising the day according to grinder Felix van den Hövel. For the second day of racing on Sunday, Schwarz-Rot-Gold has set its sights higher. After a good performance in the last race of the day, they still managed to finish eighth after four races with eleven points.
The self-confident Brits were the first to take the top spot with 36 points. They were followed by the surprisingly strong Swiss team led by Sébastien Schneiter (30 points) ahead of the Australian record winners from Tom Slingsby's Bonds Flying Roos (26 points). Peter Burling's Kiwis, who were not in the top three on Saturday evening only because they finished last after finishing second, fourth and first in the fourth race, were lurking behind on equal points.
Ruggero Tital and his Red Bull Italy team also cut a fine figure. With 8th, 3rd, 6th and 3rd places, the youngest newcomers to the league showed their qualities. The Canadians around driver Giles Scott were completely out of their depth on the first of the two race days in Portsmouth. After recent successes, the Briton in the service of the Horns had hoped for much more than eleventh place at the halfway stage of the British SailGP. Click here for the interim results.
Replay! The first race day in the replay:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
