The ninth event of Season 3 visited Sydney, with home favorites Australia looking to capitalize on home crowd support. After a fast and furious first day racing, the event was cut short when close-to hurricane strength gusts caused significant damage to the F50 wing sails and at least one F50. We round up the best photos from the event.
Gusty conditions of up to 50 km/h challenged crews and the event kicked off with a drama-filled first fleet race. Just minutes from the start, Australia announced it could not race due to technical difficulties.
But the green and gold F50 made a late sprint to the start line and finished in third position overall despite suffering technical issues throughout.
Peter Burling’s New Zealand meanwhile had its own equipment struggles and was forced to retire half way through the race.
There was also drama on board the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team when grinder Matt Gotrel fell through the fairing of the British F50.
Emirates GBR, which had been chasing down France in second place, brought their F50 to a complete stop and pulled Gotrel back on board before continuing the race and salvaging a sixth place finish.
It was a good day for Jimmy Spithill’s United States, which bagged two second place positions, but an even better one from Quentin Delapierre’s France, which sealed a hat-trick of three consecutive race wins.
Australia finished in third overall while Emirates GBR battled back to finish in fourth place.
Shortly after racing finished, a near hurricane force gust blew through the tech site as SailGP’s tech team was craning out the Canada wing. The major weather incident caused significant damage to the wing sails and at least one F50. A full assessment of the damage remains ongoing.
