SailGP’s Season 6 rolled into Portsmouth for the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix, the eighth stop of the year and the opening event of the European leg. Six fleet races, split across two groups of six and seven boats, produced three different winners in each group and a genuine fight at both ends of the fleet. By the end of the day it was New Zealand’s Black Foils, the defending champions of this event, sitting on top of Group A, with Artemis Sweden leading Group B. Two more fleet races in each group tomorrow will decide who joins them in the four boat final on Super Sunday.
Getting better with every race
For a team defending its Portsmouth title, the Black Foils took their time finding form. Peter Burling’s crew were fourth in the opening race, a result that would have stung a little given Northstar Canada made light work of the rest of the fleet on the way to victory. Race two was better, New Zealand fighting their way into second in a chaotic finish that saw Canada come apart in the closing metres. But it was race three where the Black Foils properly arrived, leading every single mark from start to finish and winning with nothing else in the fleet able to live with them. It also happened to be wing trimmer Blair Tuke’s birthday, and Burling made sure it was one to remember, the Black Foils hitting 96km/h on the sprint to the first mark and never looking troubled again.
Improving in every race of the day left New Zealand top of Group A on 11 points, one clear of Northstar Canada, heading into tomorrow’s final two fleet races. As things stand, the Black Foils and Northstar Canada would be the two boats going through to Super Sunday’s final from Group A.
Northstar Canada’s day of extremes
Giles Scott and his Northstar Canada crew produced the most complete display of race one, blasting the short sprint to the first mark to lead from the front and control the race the whole way, a result built on what commentators called three excellent starts across the day. Race two went the opposite way. Canada led for the entire race, right up until the last 200 metres, before an aggressive move to try to force Los Gallos Spain wide at the final gate backfired badly, sending them off the foils and handing the race to Spain. New Zealand’s Black Foils and Red Bull Italy both got through as well, leaving Canada to limp home fifth.
To their credit, Canada bounced straight back in race three. An early penalty for running wide of the course cost them, but they served it, steadied the boat and were back into a clear second by the third mark, a position they held to the finish. Strategist Annie Haeger and coach Ian Williams came in for plenty of credit for the calm, consistent sailing that’s made Canada one of the most reliable boats in the fleet, penalty aside. They finish the day second overall, right on New Zealand’s heels.
Spain’s rollercoaster
Diego Botin’s Los Gallos had arguably the most dramatic day of anyone in Group A. Second in the opener, they produced the highlight of the day in race two, reeling in Canada’s lead all race before pouncing when Canada came unstuck at the final gate, sailing through to a win Botin himself admitted afterwards had been desperately close, his crew unsure right up until the finish whether they’d avoid a penalty.
Race three brought them back to earth hard. A penalty for a port tack foul on Mubadala Brazil, with Brazilian driver Martine Grael praised for the way she handled the incident, buried Spain in the back half of the fleet. They finished sixth and shut out of the points entirely. It leaves them third in Group A, needing a big two races tomorrow to force their way into the final.
The rest of Group A
Bonds Flying Roos Australia had a frustrating day for a team that arrived at Portsmouth well clear at the top of the season standings. Slow away in every race, Tom Slingsby’s crew worked patiently back through the fleet each time, finishing fifth, third and third, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the top three. Red Bull Italy, driven by Phil Robertson, had a solid if unspectacular day through the pack, while Rockwell Racing Denmark’s Nicolai Sehested improved with every race, from seventh to sixth to fourth. Mubadala Brazil had the toughest day of all, finishing without a single point to their name after being caught up in incidents in more than one race.
Artemis Sweden’s imperious day
If one team stood out across the whole event, it was Artemis. Nathan Outteridge’s Swedish crew finished on the podium in all three of Group B’s races, second in the opener, a dominant wire to wire win in race two, and a second place in race three where they chased Emirates GBR hard all the way to the line but couldn’t quite get past. That consistency has them top of Group B on 13 points, two clear of the US SailGP Team, and looking every bit the team to beat heading into tomorrow.
Taylor Canfield’s Americans were nearly as consistent themselves, winning the opening race before a pair of solid third places in the races that followed, enough to see them safely into second in the group standings.
Emirates GBR save the day at the death
It wasn’t the day the home crowd had hoped for through the first two races. Emirates GBR finished fourth in the opener and then endured a torrid second race, dropping as low as sixth and never really getting back into the fight. Dylan Fletcher’s crew needed a big result in the last race of the day to keep their hopes alive, and they got it in dramatic fashion.
Germany’s Deutsche Bank team actually led the fleet through the first mark of that final race, only for wing trimmer Kévin Péponnet to lose his footing crossing the boat moments later, unable to get a hand to the wingsheet in time. The boat heeled hard and came within a whisker of going over before the crew hauled it back in what commentators called a genuine save, but the damage was done. Emirates GBR inherited a big lead on the spot and never gave it up, holding off a hard charging Artemis Sweden by 5.8 seconds at the line in front of a crowd of 20,000 on the shore.
Explorer Swiss, driven by Sébastien Schneiter, had a scrappy but effective day, collecting a couple of penalties along the way but still finishing third overall in the group. DS Automobiles France and Germany brought up the rear, with Germany’s near miss in the final race the low point of an otherwise difficult day for them both.
What’s at stake for Super Sunday
Both groups have two more fleet races tomorrow before the top two from each advance to the winner take all four boat final. As things stand that would be an all New Zealand versus Canada decider from Group A and an all Sweden versus USA decider from Group B, with Emirates GBR the reigning SailGP season champions still very much alive on the back of tonight’s win, and Los Gallos Spain and Bonds Flying Roos Australia both needing big results to force their way in. With a full day of racing still to come, nothing is settled yet, but for New Zealand fans, a Black Foils crew that got better with every race today and arrived in Portsmouth as the defending event champions will take some stopping.
