Spain’s Los Gallos SailGP Team damaged both board cases during a gybe in the second practice race for the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix.
No athletes were injured but the impact caused major damage to the boat’s foils and hull, forcing the Spanish team to retire from racing and seek urgent assistance.
SailGP’s Tech Team recovered the boat and are carrying out a full investigation to determine the extent of the damage to see if they can race this weekend or not.
Driver Diego Botin said . . . “In the middle of the gybe, during the turn, the board case snapped and we had quite a big crash. The board case is damaged, the board is damaged and also the hull.”
“We obviously made a big effort to minimize the damage from the race course to the shore and now it’s all in the hands of the Tech Team”
The sold out Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix will kick off the Rolex SailGP 2026 Season this weekend in Fremantle.
Viewing is an early morning job for Brits with the first start at 05:00 hrs GB (13:00 hrs AUS) on 17 and 18 January, and I will be reporting it here on Sailweb.co.uk
