The third event of Season 4 was packed with drama, as SailGP’s 10-strong F50 fleet went to battle on the iconic waters of Saint-Tropez bay. From Canada and Spain’s collision to New Zealand’s wing collapse, we round up five moment you might have missed from last weekend’s racing.
Spain and Canada collision
There was drama from the off in Saint-Tropez, with Canada and Spain colliding in the very first fleet race. The moment unfolded on the 4th leg of the race and saw Canada execute a late turn to try and avoid the Spanish. But the evasive action was ruled too late, and Canada picked up a painful 8-point event penalty for the collision.
Disappointment for Delapierre
It was another disappointing event for the French, who had been hoping to turn their slow season start around on home waters. The team was joined by new flight controller Jason Saunders for the first time but failed to perform, picking up an 8-2-4-9-9 fleet racing record and finishing the event in 6th overall.
ROCKWOOL DEN narrowly miss out on the Final
Despite sailing consistently well all weekend and being in contention of the three-boat Final, ROCKWOOL Denmark had a disastrous final fleet race. Communication confusion on board led to the team mistakenly thinking they had to beat Emirates GBR to make the Final but a slow maneuver saw them overtaken by the Germans too, ruling them out of the podium race.
New Zealand F50 wing collapse
Race Day 1 ended in dramatic style when New Zealand’s 29m wing suddenly collapsed without warning. The team had finished racing - ending the day at the top of the leaderboard - when the wing fell out of the sky, narrowly missing the athletes below. All athletes were accounted for and no injuries were reported, and an investigation into the wing failure is underway.
Emirates GBR win in dramatic style
In an action-packed Final, Emirates GBR, Australia and Spain went head to head, with the Aussies and Brits fighting throughout. Despite leading for the majority of the race, the Aussies were overtaken on the penultimate leg by Ben Ainslie’s crew, which swept across the finish line to claim its first race win since Season 2.
