Tom Slingsby and The BONDS Flying Roos team took their third SailGP Grand Prix win, with victory on the line in New York.
The Australian team took the early lead in the Grand Final against Dylan Fletcher and Emirates GBR, and Giles Scott and NorthStar of Canada. Fletcher snatched the lead at Gate 3, but Slingsby regained the lead by Gate 5.
Approaching Gate 6 GBR and AUS overlapped, with Slingsby leading round the final mark to take the win at the finish by 3 seconds.
Slingsby explained . . . “Ultimately, at that last bottom mark, I was able to watch exactly where GBR’s bow was, which allowed us to clear the overlap and make it through the finish line.”
To seal a hard-fought win with a near photo finish for his hat trick victory – after wins in Bermuda and Rio de Janeiro.
The second day had started with a clean-sheet for the teams after Saturdays racing – sailed by only three teams – was cancelled, and three new fleet races held on Sunday to decide the three Grand Final qualifiers.
The F50 fleet was racing with the 27.5m Wing and light air foils and rudders, and a five strong crew, in a wind that started the day at around 14 knots.
The first race was a line to line win for Dylan Fletcher and Emirates GBR, chased by Taylor Canfield’s US SailGP Team and Quentin Delapierre’s DS Team France. Nathan Outteridge and Artemis got up to third mid race, but the result was a 36 sec win for the Brits, with the USA second and Sweden third.
The second race was dominated by the USA with Taylor Canfield nailing the start to lead from Mubadala Brazil and GBR down in 11th. USA kept their lead with Australia taking second and Phil Robertson with Red Bull Italy third and at this point in the top three with the USA and GBR.
It was all change in race 3 when shortly after the start, won by GER Deutsche Bank, ther was a three boat collision involving USA, ITA and BRA, with USA disqualified. Giles Scott and Northstar took the lead at Gate 3 and held it to the finish, ahead of the Danes Rockwool Racing, with the Aussies in third.
The U.S. SailGP Team were handed down a seven-point penalty for breaching Rule 14 – avoiding contact – while the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team was penalized four event points. No penalty was issued to Mubadala Brazil.
This changed the fleet leaderboard, producing the Grand Final race line-up first CAN, second GBR and third AUS.
The Australians have extended their lead on the overall Rolex SailGP Championship standings, now 11 points ahead of Emirates GBR in second.
The Rolex SailGP Championship returns in less than one month – with the Canada Sail Grand Prix | Halifax, 20-21 June.
