More than twenty times in quick succession, Canada's helmsman Giles Scott raised his clenched fist in joy to the sky above Los Angeles at the finish line. The 37-year-old double Olympic champion in the Finn and his team had just beaten the favourites from New Zealand and Australia in the final and won a SailGP regatta together for the first time.
The SailGP triumph of Giles Scott
Giles Scott had won his two Olympic gold medals in 2016 and 2021 as the successor and long-time team-mate of four-time Olympic champion "Big Ben" Ainslie for Great Britain before the Finn was dropped from the Olympic programme. What is less well known is that Scott grew up on the Ottawa River and also holds a Canadian passport.
He was recently able to switch to his new team. America's Cup pilot Dylan Fletcher has taken over the helm of his former team, Emirates GBR. For Scott, who is almost two metres tall, the triumph in the Hollywood area must have tasted doubly sweet, where the British team only came fourth.
Although Team Emirates GBR continues to lead the season standings with 34 points ahead of Australia (32 points) and New Zealand (29 points) after narrowly missing out on the final, Canada (25 points) has moved up to fifth place behind the defending Spanish champions (26 points) after four of 14 events in the still young fifth SailGP season.
The light wind challenge in the SailGP
The Germany SailGP Team of Thomas Riedel and four-time Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel has not yet got rid of the red lantern of the tail light after the thunderstorm of penalty points in Sydney, but now shares it with Brazil and has now been able to reduce its bulging penalty point account to two minus points.
In Los Angeles this weekend, Erik Heil's crew had to contend with a few pre-start penalties and - like other teams - seaweed on the course, but finished the first of three US regattas strongly with second place in the seventh and final race.
"A regatta usually feels as good as the last race." Helmsman Erik Heil from the German team in the SailGP often says this. In California, the German rollercoaster ride through the rankings ended encouragingly. After finishing 8th, 5th, 7th, 11th, 7th, 7th and 2nd, the German team ended the SailGP summit in the former Olympic city of LA, which will return in 2028, in seventh place.
Helmsman Erik Heil was optimistic afterwards. The two-time Olympic bronze medallist said late on Sunday evening in Los Angeles: "There were three more races today in very challenging light winds. Our starts in the first two races were not ideal, but we fought our way back quite well."
Germany SailGP Team: good start, good ranking
Above all, the high-flying final run showed the German team what it is capable of one week before the next event in San Francisco. Erik Heil said: "I'm very happy that we were able to achieve another good result with a good start." The only woman in the German team, strategist Anna Barth from Kiel, made a major contribution to this.
Because only four and not five or six-person crews were in action in the light winds on the final day, the 20-year-old athlete had to work the grinder in the small line-up. Where normally two strong guys crank, she had to do it solo. This is also the case for the other teams in the minimal line-up, as the other three positions on board - helmsman, wing trimmer and flight controller - are not flexible.
Even before the event Anna Barth to YACHT online tells us that fitness for this double job is currently a priority in her intensive training. "It was tough today," reported the 1.69 metre tall athlete on Sunday evening after the races, in which she was once again called upon to act as a strategist and grinder.
Anna Barth challenged twice as hard
She was even hit twice as hard, as she reported: "We were unsure until the end whether we were sailing with five or four people. As a result, we didn't have the right gears for me, but the hard gears." You could even see that on the ZDF live broadcast that night: Anna Barth wrestled like a lioness with the cranks, which kept stalling.
It became clear why light wind conditions remain one of the biggest challenges for less experienced teams. But the athlete, who grew up in Hamburg, fought her way through. Later, grinder Felix Van den Hövel, who did not take part on the day, also explained why the German team had a particularly difficult time on Sunday.
Felix Van den Hövel said: "There is a scenario where there are only four people on board. That happens when there is very little wind. We hadn't anticipated this today, but it was arranged for all races." The SailGP race organisers often make decisions like this at short notice. It was the same in Los Angeles.
SailGP lessons in light winds
The German team caught the decision on the wrong foot. Felix Van den Hövel had to watch on as both classic grinders of all teams remained on land. He explained: "We didn't expect that, we were a bit ill-prepared. The conditions were also very challenging. It was very windy, gusty, you really had to find the spins. Of course, we gave it our all and are quite happy to have almost finished in midfield. Those are actually realistic results for us right now. So all in all, quite okay."
The second place at the end gave us a great push and showed us that we can do it: We can do it!" Anna Barth
Anna Barth summarised the final day: "These are the most difficult conditions for us, this marginal foiling with four people. With the light wind, our aim was to get on the foils as much as possible. That's why we chose the route with the best breeze rather than the direct one. We managed this particularly well in the seventh race, in which we achieved 89 per cent flytime despite the light wind." Ten events remain until the season finale in Abu Dhabi in November for the German resurgence.
Danish crash with consequences
The Danes were unlucky in Los Angeles. The team around helmsman Nicolai Sehested had already crashed a turning mark in the first race on day one. This meant that the regatta was over for them before it had really begun. Although the crew were uninjured in the unexpected collision, one of the T-foils was damaged.
Team Rockwool Denmark is now scrambling to get its foiling boat ready for action again as quickly as possible with the SailGP technical team, as the next event starts next weekend with the Oracle San Francisco SailGP. As the logistics for the quick move from Los Angeles to San Francisco are extremely challenging anyway, the Danes will have to hope and fight for a quick repair if they want to make it to the fifth regatta of the fifth season.
"There is one second" - almost a "sailing Oscar" for Martine Grael
Brazil's double Olympic champion Martine Grael and her team Mubadala Brazil provided the most exciting moments in Los Angeles on day one. As league newcomers, the South Americans led the third race before being caught by Australia on the way to the finish. Martine Grael and her men's team crossed the finish line in second place, missing out on the historic first victory for a SailGP helmswoman by just one second!
Here are the highlights from day two of the Rolex Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix:
