SailGP’s Season 4 visit to Sydney was packed with racing action, full foiling conditions and close calls. As we look back at the event, we round up some of the quotes which captured the emotion and adrenaline of the KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix.
“ROCKWOOL DEN was obviously disappointed with the result in Abu Dhabi, although they won’t say that publicly - but they didn’t bring Nathan Outteridge in to come 9th and drop from 2nd to joint 3rd with the USA.”
SailGP CEO Russell Coutts dissects ROCKWOOL DEN’s 9th place finish in Abu Dhabi.
“You can overcome a lot of things when you believe, and that’s what I’m trying to do as a coach - instill that belief and confidence that we can play out here against all these teams. So each time we get to go out on the water we’re just getting better and better.”
USA coach Mark Ivey on the team’s learning curve.
“It’s definitely big boy pants weather - it’s going to be a big day, you better bring your brown undies, buckle up it’s going to be a wild ride.”
Canada driver Phil Robertson ahead of racing in Sydney.
“You start to doubt yourself when you get into that many finals and you can’t win - you start to ask, are we good enough to win? I feel like it’s a real mark in the ground with New Zealand having two wins a row and we were up against it on our home turf and able to deliver like that. To win at home in Australia - you couldn’t have written a better script for us.”
Australia Tom Slingsby dissects the team’s’ first Season 4 win.
“It’s always the case with Australia - if you don’t sail a perfect race they’re going to punish you in these conditions and we made some mistakes. It’s all credit to them and they deserved to win it when they did.”
ROCKWOOL DEN driver Nicolai Sehested reflects on Sydney’s Final.
“I’m furious with the league to be honest. You come here promised a boat to race with and when you don’t get a boat that’s race-ready, it does piss you off.”
Canada driver Phil Robertson after team tech troubles on day one.
“Progress is still the highest priority for us - to be honest it feels way easier to sail the boat compared to 6 months ago.”
Germany driver Erik Heil on the team’s first race win.
“It’s still a bit of rust for me to be honest - I haven’t shaken it all off, it’s kind of frustrating to be honest. We had a really good weekend and it was a fantastic opportunity to get another win for the team and it went begging, so hopefully I get another chance to drive at another event.”
Nathan Outteridge, who subbed in for Peter Burling to drive New Zealand, reflects on the Kiwis’ early start penalty in the Final.
