The US SailGP Team were ruled out of the Sydney event after a capsize in practice. Video / SailGP, Instagram
SailGP had already achieved a remarkable feat before racing had even begun in Sydney on Saturday.
Following an eventful day of practice on Friday, the league dished out 52 event penalty points and 32 from the season tally across three teams for various incidents.
It made the Sydney regatta one for the global foiling league’s record books, with those numbers being the most penalty points ever taken from a single event.
SailGP sophomore Germany bore the brunt of those penalties for three separate incidents – collisions with Italy and Brazil in separate practice races, before breaking SailGP Rule 57, which penalises a team for causing damage to its F50 it was reasonable to avoid, with their wingsail damaged as they were leaving the racecourse.
The Germans were able to get things sorted to be on the starting line for the event proper to start on Saturday but began the regatta on -32 points and were docked 20 from their season total.
The United States weren’t quite so fortunate in terms of damage sustained to their F50 foiling catamaran on Friday, with their wingsail damaged due to a capsize and unable to be repaired in time for the competition.
SailGP's regatta in Sydney has been an eventful one so far. Photo / Patrick Hamilton, SailGP
They were hit with a 12-point penalty for the event – which didn’t factor in as they were forced to withdraw – and an eight-point penalty for the season.
Finally, the Brazilians were penalised eight event points and four from their season total for their part in the collision with the Germans.
They weren’t the only teams to have their struggles on Sydney Harbour, with New Zealand’s Black Foils continuing to have uncharacteristic issues that had them languishing at the back end of the fleet in Saturday’s racing.
The season was always expected to be one the Kiwis had to build into, with Leo Takahashi taking over as the flight controller after Andy Maloney joined the newly formed Brazilian team.
While Peter Burling told the Herald after Saturday’s racing developing with the new group was going well, they finished the day with an eighth, seventh and two lasts to sit ninth on the leaderboard with just seven points.
Burling noted the team made too many mistakes, although issues with the flight control system meant they had no choice but to sail their own race at the back of the fleet in the final race of the day.
Sitting 20 points outside of the podium spots when racing resumes this evening, Burling was looking at the bigger picture.
“For us, there’s a long way to go in the season so you’re just trying to make sure that as a group we’re improving, we’re getting better.
“It would be really nice to get a few solid races on the board, but at the end of the day we’ve still got to minimise the damage on the points table as well and get a few back there.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
