Final day of the Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix in San Francisco the culmination of the 2021/22 Season 2.
Tom Slingsby and the Australia SailGP Team took back-to-back $1 million dollar Grand Final wins with a runaway victory on San Francisco Bay.
The first running of the Grand Final had Outteridge JPN take the lead from the start, then Spithill’s USA led at mark 2, only for the race to be abandoned just after Slingsby AUS took the lead . . . due to a whale sighting on the course!
With the wind now very light, a second attempt was made and this time it was Slingsby and Team Australia who took the lead off the line, sailing fast underneath USA and Japan, who struggled to get on the foils.
Slingsby AUS extended away to a 400+m metre lead, holding the breze until the start of leg 4 when they came off the foils and Spithill USA closed to within 100m before Slingsby AUS got back on the foils .
As Slingsby AUS extended away again, Outteridge JPN overtook Spithill USA, but now 600m behind the flying Aussie boat.
Tom Slingsby and Team Australia crossed the finish after 9 min 37 sec of racing to take the Season 2 Grand Final, with Nathan Outteridge and the Japan SailGP Team following 46sec later, third was Jimmy Spithill and Team USA.
Australia SailGP Team:
Tom Slingsby
Jason Waterhouse
Kyle Langford
Sam Newton
Kinley Fowler
Nina Curtis
Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix in San Francisco – Day 2
In the first race of day 2, Race 4, it was the New Zealand Team of Peter Burling who took their first win, with Tom Slingsby’s Australia Team in second and Ben Ainslie and his Great Britain Team in third.
But the big story was a collision between Jimmy Spithill’s USA Team and Jordi Xammer’s Spain Team, resulting in damage to the stern of the USA boat, who had to miss Race 5 while they repaired the stern section.
The Spanish were in the wrong and also did not take part in Race 5, the final race of the San Francisco event series.
So it was a reduced fleet of five for Race 5, with Tom Slingsby’s Australia Team grabbing the lead from the start and keeping it all the way to the finish.
There was another big incident in this race with Ainslie GBR crossing Burling NZL and the France SailGP Team of Quentin Delapierre, who then collied in avoiding Ainslie, penalty on Delapierre FRA.
Anslie GBR went on to take second then Burling NZL in third, Nathan Outteridge and the Japan SailGP Team fourth and Nicolai Sehested and the Denmark Team.
This was Just enough for Ben Ainslie and the Great Britain Team to claim third place in the SailGP San Francisco event behind Nathan Outteridge JPN and Tom Slingsby AUS, and fourth place in the Season 2 overall Championship.
Final Overall Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix (5 races)
1st Nathan Outteridge – Japan SailGP Team – 18 pts
2nd Tom Slingsby – Australia Team – 18pts
3rd Ben Ainslie – Great Britain Team – 16 pts
4th Nicolai Sehested – Denmark Team – 16 pts
5th Jordi Xammer – Spain Team – 14 pts
6th Peter Burling – New Zealand Team – 12 pts
7th Jimmy Spithill’s – USA Team – 10 pts
8th Quentin Delapierre – France Team – 5 pts
SailGP Season 2 Overall Championship 2021/22
1st Tom Slingsby – Australia Team
2nd Nathan Outteridge – Japan SailGP Team
3rd Jimmy Spithill’s – USA Team
4th Ben Ainslie – Great Britain Team
5th Peter Burling – New Zealand Team
6th Nicolai Sehested – Denmark Team
7th Jordi Xammer – Spain Team
8th Quentin Delapierre – France Team
SailGP Season 3 starts in just over a month, with the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix taking place on 14-15 May 2022.
