Australia ahead of Spain and Great Britain - that was the result at the end of the second SailGP summit of the fifth season in Auckland. Tom Slingsby and his Green and Yellows showed their former strength, coped best with the new T-Foils and also mastered the strong wind races on the final day with ease.
Favourites on the SailGP podium
With the exception of the top favourites from New Zealand, who also had to contend with technical problems on board their F50 catamaran in fourth place overall, the favourites stood on the podium in the "City of Sails". The Germany SailGP team led by helmsman Erik Heil was able to significantly improve its overall performance after breaking its rudder pole the day before through no fault of its own.
I had the feeling it was 25-knot 49er racing." Erik Heil
In winds of up to 25 or 26 knots, two-time 49er Olympic bronze medallist Erik Heil already knew about the challenges of the day before the races: "We were pretty sure that the teams would all shoot their boats to pieces. If you keep it safe yourself, you'll be sailing around the top six." Erik Heil's prediction came true: The Germany SailGP team took sixth, seventh and fifth place on the second day at the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland.
After the break the day before, the good performance was enough for eighth place in the eleven-team classification. "We could have pushed a bit more in the starts, but when I saw how some teams slid sideways... You can also fly so high on T-foils that you slide sideways. We also had a few wild moments. But a few teams have already wrecked their boats today. And there were also a few injuries. In the evening, half of the Spanish crew were no longer running straight."
SailGP: more races, more action
Everyone in his crew is doing well, said the 35-year-old professional from Strande near Kiel. The German racing catamaran had remained "mostly intact", said Erik Heil after the demanding races five, six and seven on Sunday. With a total of seven races, the fleet racing programme at this SailGP regatta was for the first time even more extensive than the previous five fleet races up to the final.
The German racing catamaran was not completely free of problems on the action-packed Sunday. Erik Heil reported: "We had another hydro problem with an oil leak. That's why we lost a bit in the second race of the day because the board wasn't working properly. But overall, we can't complain too much about technical problems today."
Is the potential danger for sailors and boats now too high for the league? Heil Heil said: "The T-Foils are new. Everyone has to get used to them first. It's borderline now with the new foils, but it's definitely manageable in the future." According to Heil, the teams were already sailing at a level "that you were pretty sure that everyone could handle their boats well. It's not just any sailors being let loose on the boats here. These are all very experienced professionals."
Beautiful sailing show with a flaw
Was the choice of the larger wing sails for the fleet of eleven projectiles, in which France was missing as at the first event of the season in Dubai because their boat was not yet ready to race, the right one in the strong winds on Sunday?
Erik Heil answered in the affirmative: "Of course you could have chosen the smaller wings. But they wouldn't have had the inertia and would have made the boats extremely unstable. If you can drop and luff, it's almost easier to sail with the big ones than with the small ones. The only question is when the loads become too high and the things fly around our ears."
Towards the end of the final day, the winds had dropped a little to 21, 22 knots, but the gusts of 27, 28 knots remained on the smallest race course in the league in front of 8,000 fans in the sold-out maxi grandstand. The audience was treated to a sailing show that had it all. There was only one blemish from the hosts' point of view: "Contrary to all predictions and hopes, our own team missed out on the final. Even superstar Peter Burling and his Kiwis had to survive a heavy nose dive - almost parallel to the Germany SailGP team.
America's Cup teams and defending champions shine
Erik Heil's balance between breakage and good team performance: "We could have finished in the top six in almost all races. On a normal race weekend, we could be well in the midfield." You could see how the top teams utilise their experience from the America's Cup. Erik Heil said: "Tom Slingsby gained good America's Cup experience with T-Foils with American Magic, and the British team brought good ideas with them."
The performance of the Kiwis, who have the most Cup experience as America's Cup winners, was inconsistent. Erik Heil said: "They were borderline. They also had hydro problems like us and therefore couldn't move the rake as well as we did."
The rider and driver in the Germany SailGP team of entrepreneur Thomas Riedel and four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel explained in detail: "There are compression reservoirs and they have to be fully charged. Then you can move something. We also had a problem like this: if the boards had to work down too long against a resistance when initiating a manoeuvre, you suddenly had no more rake pressure during the manoeuvre and could no longer fly the boat correctly."
The "best league" - with potential for optimisation
The bottom line is that Erik Heil maintains his assessment despite the recurring technical challenges: "It's still the best league the sport has ever had. It's always stupid that we don't have enough training. A lot of people get involved and pay for the league to make enough training possible. So that's a bit of a shame. But the league is always learning a lot. The tech teams are learning how problems are solved. The processes still need to be further optimised in Formula 1 terms, so that you can really be gigantic on the track."
The fact that there were also injuries on Sunday remains another future task for the league and its teams. According to initial findings by the sailors, the flight controller in the Canadian crew probably suffered a broken collarbone. In the Spanish team, Nicole van der Velden suffered a knee injury. Many other sailors left the field with injuries. "Only half the Spanish crew were still going when I met them," reported Erik Heil after the races.
After two of 14 events, Team Emirates GBR with America's Cup helmsman Dylan Fletcher has taken the lead in the season rankings ahead of New Zealand and Australia. The Germany SailGP team has moved up to ninth place, leaving Canada and the newcomers from Italy and Brazil behind. Click here for the interim results in the season rankings.
The next stops in the SailGP League
The SailGP continues on 8 and 9 February in Sydney, Australia, on a prominent water sports stage, before the league heads to its two US guest appearances in Los Angeles and San Francisco from mid-March, followed by the Rio premiere in Brazil in May. This will be followed by the showdown in New York on 7 and 8 June, before the European season kicks off with five regattas.
The 2025 treat from a German perspective: the SailGP Summit in Sassnitz off the coast of Rügen on 16 and 17 August. The F50 fleet's guest appearance in the Baltic Sea will mark the second sailing highlight in a German sailing area within a week. The weekend before, the starting signal for the Ocean Race Europe will be given off Kiel on 10 August. Boris Herrmann and Team Malizia will be there.
