Australia leads after Day 1 of SailGP in Auckland, New Zealand
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Australia had a win and two seconds to lead the fleet after day one of the SailGP event on Saturday.
The Australian team also had a fifth placing to finish the day with 34 points, ahead of Britain which had a first and second placing in the first two races and finished with 28 points.
Spain is third with 26 points after a consistent day and New Zealand won the last race to move up to fourth place with 25 points. The United States is ninth overall with 11 points.
The first day saw four fleet races, raced in winds of between 17 and 22 knots. There will be two more fleet races Sunday before the top three teams contest the event final and stronger winds are expected on day two.
The Auckland event is the second leg of the SailGP series, following the series opener in Dubai in November. It is also the first event in which teams used new T-Foils which replace the previous L-Foils and provide more speed, stability and responsiveness.
Teams have said the new foils make the boats feel bigger and more powerful. On Saturday, boats regularly reached speeds of almost three times the wind speed.
New Zealand driver Peter Burling said the T-Foils “make a huge difference, to be honest.
“Today’s wind was probably at the lighter end of the spectrum and its pretty impressive how fast down the spectrum they go. They’re a lot to play with.”
The SailGP fleet usually involves 12 boats but only 11 were able to race in Auckland because France had equipment problems.
In race one Spain was first across the line and New Zealand last. Britain passed Spain to lead at the first gate and retained the lead for the next six legs to cross the finish line first.
Spain was second and Italy third, despite incurring a penalty at the start. New Zealand picked its way through the fleet to finish fourth with Australia fifth, Denmark sixth and the United States seventh.
The United States was first across the start line in race two and led at gate three. But it crashed heavily on the fourth, downwind, leg.
First the American rose up too high on its foils, lost lift and touched down. Just at it did so, a large gust hit the American boat and tipped it onto its nose.
Australia went on to win the race from Britain, Italy and Spain while Team USA recovered from last to finish sixth.
Germany wasn’t able to make the start of race three because of hydraulic issues. Switzerland hit the line first and fast and led throughout, a boost for the team which finished last in the 2024 series.
Australia won a duel with Canada to take second. Team USA again came off the foils and touched down, finishing 10th.
Germany returned for race in race four in which New Zealand rediscovered its winning form after finishing fourth, eighth and sixth in the first three races.
New Zealand hit the start line fastest and had a two-second lead over Australia at the first gate. It was able to stretch its lead from then on but it proved hard throughout the day to improve from the middle of the fleet.
The United States touched down close to the finish in race four, finishing the day with a seventh, a sixth and two 10th placings.
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