- First day of racing takes place in rough sea state making it a difficult ride for the F50s
- GBR end day in third place despite a tough first race with an 8 th place finish
- R1: GBR finish in eighth following a start line penalty and a fall off the foils in an early maneuverer which proved too difficult to come back from
- R2: Comeback for GBR as a change in strategy to low flying foils and a smooth performance around the racetrack take them to 2nd place behind Australia
- R3: GBR take home the win after a five boat drag race to mark one that saw GBR pinch the lead and see it through to the finish line
- The race win was achieved despite crucial tech failure onboard which meant audio communications were lost between Flight Controller Luke Parkinson and the rest of the team. Nikki Bonniface, team strategist, stepped in to provide manual signalling for timings of key manoeuvres on board
- Event day 1 result; AUS, FRA, GBR
QUOTES: The Great Britain SailGP Team Co-Owner and Driver, Ben Ainslie: “Conditions were full on today with big waves seeing a lot of the teams having to change up their racing styles. In the opener, we were milliseconds early over the start line that resulted in a penalty. We pushed hard to catch up but fell off the foils at the Leeward gate, which proved too hard to recover from.
"With a change in strategy for races two and three, keeping to low flying foiling, the team did a brilliant job to regain our spot on the podium, and a particular a great performance to win the final race. It was great to give the Spanish fans a new memory of the Great British team following our capsize in Cadiz last year. All to play for tomorrow as we look to get into that podium final.”
