- Nathan Outteridge and the Japan SailGP Team lead after day 1 of the Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix in San Francisco.
Outteridge and the Japan Team are tied for the event lead on 18 points with Tom Slingsby’s Australia Team after three races on day 1 of the United States Sail Grand Prix in San Francisco.
In third place is Ben Ainslie and his Great Britain Team tied on 16 points with Nicolai Sehested and the Denmark Team.
Ainslie GBR started this final season 2 event with a win ahead of Slingsby AUS and the New Zealand Team of Peter Burling, with Outteridge JPN down in sixth.
Race 2 saw a win for the Danes, with Outteridge JPN in second and Jordi Xammer, the new driver for Spain, taking third. Ainslie finished in sixth place.
In the final race of day 1, Outteridge JPN took the win, with Xammer ESP in second place and Slingsby AUS in third.
That win confirmed Outteridge and the Japan Team join Slingsby AUS and Jimmy Spithill USA in the $1 million dollar Grand Final, which will be sailed after two more races decide the San Francisco event on Sunday.
Stand-outs were the performance of Tom Slingsby’s Australia Team after the rebuild of their wing following the capsize on Thursday, and the strong performance of Jordi Xammer and the Spain Team in his first event after replacing Kiwi Phil Robertson at the last minute.
Also a big improvement with a win for Nicolai Sehested and the Denmark Team, their 4, 1, 6, scoreline putting them equal with Ben Ainslie and the Great Britain Team and well positioned for Sunday’s two races.
Not a great day for Jimmy Spithill and the USA Team, their 5, 7, 5, putting them in seventh place and well off the leaders as they battled to confirm their place in the $1 million dollar Grand Final.
Forecast for Sunday is for very strong wind, with gusts up to 50KMH (25 knots).
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