Behind Erik Heil and his crew lies probably the toughest SailGP weekend in the history of Thomas Riedel's still young racing team and four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel. As a result of three incidents with two collisions during pre-practice last Friday, the Germany SailGP Team received 32 penalty points for the third SailGP regatta. In addition, twelve painful penalty points for the current season.
SailGP: excessive sentence?
The draconian total penalty is unprecedented in its extent and meant an unprecedented "record" for Team Germany in the SailGP. The storm of penalties not only ruined the chances of a good placing in Sydney, where the Germans finished eleventh out of twelve teams. It will also weigh on the German team for the rest of the season. Here is the report from the previous day.
The sentence is harsh, extremely harsh and difficult to accept." Erik Heil
Erik Heil knows: "This penalty doesn't just mean that you're behind in the event. It also means that you 'lose' four to five events at our level. I can understand that you don't want to have collisions. Also because the league doesn't yet have enough spare parts to ensure that the show can go on despite the breakage. But the fact that it affects your season to this extent is just too blatant."
Erik Heil also reflected on the complexity of the penalty: "I mean, it's already costing us money. It costs points for the event. The fact that it then takes away so many points for the season is simply extreme. That's basically ten per cent of all points for the year. That's a bit harsh." Click here for the season standings and the interim results.
Martine Grael is annoyed by the jury's judgement
For the training collision between the German and Brazilian teams alone, the Germany SailGP Team was penalised twelve minus points for the event and eight minus points for the season classification. But the Brazilians were also penalised with eight minus points for the event and four minus points for the season. The jury was obviously of the opinion that the Brazilians could have done more to avoid the collision, which resulted in breakage.
Coxswain Martine Grael did not share this opinion. When Erik Heil and his wing trimmer Stuart Bithell visited the Brazilian team after the incident to apologise, Martine Grael was still annoyed about the jury's punishment of her team: "Why do we get the points if they messed up? If we had seen them, of course we would have... (swerved)."
Erik Heil asked Martine Grael: "You didn't see us, did you?" Martine Grael replied: "No, we didn't see you. And honestly, I think I did a pretty good job of trying not to let the boats collide, you know? By the time I saw you guys, you were almost in my sail. There was nothing I could have done." The sailors were more at peace with each other than with the jury's decisions.
Deterrent to protect the SailGP foilers
Martine Grael said to Erik Heil: "I tried my best. But there was no way for us to fall off. We would have hit your bow full on. That was the earliest I saw you. I don't think that's fair."
Harsh penalties are not uncommon in the SailGP as a result of collisions with breakage. Other teams have also been penalised. Although none have ever been penalised as severely as the Germans this weekend. This measure is intended to protect the F50 foilers, which are operated under the organiser's responsibility, and to curb excessively risky manoeuvres.
It was not a case of risk-taking, but rather an operating error when the US catamaran also capsized in tow on Friday. The Americans were also penalised several times for their one particularly serious faux pas: however, the twelve minus points for the event were not applied because the US foiler could not be repaired so quickly and the crew led by Taylor Canfield was forced to watch.
Germany SailGP Team: battered but fighting strong
In addition, the United States SailGP Team received eight season penalty points - just as many as the Germans had collected for their minor collision with the Italians without any major damage. The jury had also categorised this incident as "major damage". With the pure race results on the water, the GER team would have finished ninth out of twelve teams in Sydney without the 32 penalty points. This left them in eleventh place. The Americans brought up the rear with no results on the water.
The fact that Erik Heil and his battered but hard-fighting team managed a very conciliatory finish with third place in the seventh and final fleet race in the picture-book arena of Sydney Harbour did everyone good. However, after three of 14 events in the fifth SailGP season, the Germany SailGP Team now has a steep mountain to climb as bottom of the table. Click here for the ZDF programme from the final day of the Sydney regatta - Kristin Recke comments.
Erik Heil commented on the prospects for the rest of the season: "We may not have as many chances in the overall standings, but the mental shift could put race wins and top results in our sights." In other words: If achieving a good position in the season championship is going to be so difficult this year, the German racing team wants to at least set highlights in only its second SailGP season and perhaps also win individual races.
Brits on top Down Under
Sir Ben Ainslie's Team Emirates GBR came out on top Down Under. After seven races up to the final, they were still a respectful second behind Australia's top favourites led by three-time SailGP record winner Tom Slingsby, but the Brits put their experience gained in the America's Cup to good use in the final. Click here for the results of the KPMG Australia SailGP in Sydney.
While Ainslie kept a close eye on his team from the outside, helmsman Dylan Fletcher, strategist and double Olympic champion Hanna Mills and the British team stole the show from the Australians. The Canadian team led by driver Giles Scott secured second place ahead of the Green and Yellows, who finished third after a penalty.
Ben Ainslie expressed his enthusiasm on land: "What an impressive race! I'm so proud of her. Dylan did brilliantly. He's world class and that's why we wanted him to get into this game. He has a top team around him. It's impressive how quickly he's slotted into this group." In his third outing as SailGP helmsman for Emirates GBR this season, Dylan Fletcher achieved his first win in the third final in a row.
Record winner Slingsby congratulates fairly
Tom Slingsby tipped his hat to his British opponents, saying: "I shouldn't have got the penalty. It was really late too. But that's not the reason why we didn't win. I don't want to blame the umpires for that. We didn't sail well in the final."
Turning to the winner, Slingsby said: "Really, the Brits turned very well on us on the first cross. Their timing was perfect. We sailed so well as a team this weekend and have a lot to be proud of. I'm sorry for the fans. I think everyone thought we had it in the bag. But it didn't quite go our way. That's sport."
And this is what the skippers said after the SailGP final in Sydney:
