Season 3 champions Australia are ‘itching’ for their first Season 4 event win, strategist Nina Curtis has said.
The Flying Roos currently sit at the top of the Season 4 Championship leaderboard with 35 points, despite not yet winning an event this season. The team’s last event win came in San Francisco in May, when they scooped the overall Season 3 Championship title.
Speaking at a pre-event press conference in Cadiz, Curtis said the team was ‘proud of our consistency’, adding that it was ‘something we’ve been working on’.
However, she admitted the team is ‘itching for a win’.
Since the beginning of Season 4, Australia has made it into the finals of all four events so far, but failed to win any.
SailGP commentator Stevie Morrison previously described winning the three-boat Final as ‘a skill’ and Australia’s Season 4 record of ‘getting into the Final and not winning’ was becoming ‘a bad habit’.
“I’m sure they want to change that and get back on top,” he said.
Elsewhere, Curtis reflected on the rise of Emirates GBR, which secured back to back wins in Saint-Tropez and Taranto.
“The British team has always been quite a formidable team, especially when everything is coming together,” she said. “We’ve got our eyes on them, but at this stage, any team could take a win - it’s a very competitive field.”
Elsewhere, this weekend sees the return of New Zealand, which missed the second day of Saint-Tropez and full Taranto event after the total collapse of their 29m wing. The team was awarded an automatic 5th place finish - equivalent to 6 season points - for having to miss the Taranto event - a decision Curtis agreed with.
“I think as a sailing team, when you can’t get on a water for an event for something out of your control I can imagine that’s really frustrating,” she said, adding “from my personal perspective I’m glad they were awarded those points and it’s great to have them back in the fleet.”
The Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía-Cádiz takes place on October 14-15, with racing scheduled between 15:30-17:00 CEST.
