Emirates Great Britain strategist Hannah Mills revealed the crucial moments that sealed the British team’s victory on the waters of Saint-Tropez.
Ben Ainslie’s picked up its first event win since Season 2 in France, beating Season 3 champions Australia and LA winners Spain in a tense fight to the finish.
Speaking on the latest episode of Reaching the Apex, Mills pinpointed two crucial moments from the three-boat showdown that were key to Emirates GBR’s victory.
The first was the decision to ‘split with the Aussies’ at the start of leg 5, which saw the Brits ‘take the opposite gate and get that separation’. Then, quickly afterwards, it was the carefully ‘timed tack back onto the right shift,” Mills explained. “We got right back onto them and gave them a cheeky luff when they tacked above us,” she said.
Despite overtaking Tom Slingsby’s Aussie crew at a crucial moment, the British team made sure they ‘stayed focused’ on the approach to the finish line.
“It was so shifty and patchy out there and it felt like anything could happen,” Mills said. “So we pulled that maneuver off and got ahead, and then it was just - ‘what’s next?’.”
Reflecting on the two days of racing, Mills said: “It just felt like every call was a massive call and in these boats you have to be decisive and you have to be looking quite far ahead because maneuvers are slow.”
Reaching the Apex is sponsored by financial services provider, Apex Group, which has teamed up with SailGP to drive equity for female progression in male dominated environments.
