The US SailGP Team were ruled out of the Sydney event after a capsize in practice. Video / SailGP, Instagram
SailGP will have to wait at least until next month’s event in Los Angeles to see their full 12-boat fleet in action.
The global foiling league had hoped to see that for the first time in Auckland last month but an issue with the French boat kept them from competing.
The issue was resolved over the past couple of weeks and the French team will make their season debut in Sydney this weekend, having been forced to watch regattas in Dubai and Auckland from the sidelines.
However, the United States will not be in action this weekend after capsizing their F50 foiling catamaran ahead of a practice session on Sydney Harbour on Friday.
The top of the vessel’s wingsail was damaged and with such a short timeframe before racing, the team were unable to get the boat back in race shape.
“The incident that occurred on our way to practice racing yesterday has left the team in a very difficult position,” US SailGP Team chief executive and strategist Mike Buckley said.
“Our shore team and the league’s tech team did an incredible job to recover our F50, and they’ve been working nonstop overnight to repair the damage sustained to the top of our wing.
“However, given the impact, we’ve not been able to return the boat to a safe, working condition today and sadly that means we won’t be out there this weekend racing.”
It’s the second time in as many seasons that the US team have been forced out of an event due to capsizing their boat – they went through the same situation in Bermuda last May.
SailGP data analyst David Rey said the cause of the capsize in Sydney was very similar to the incident in Bermuda, with a crew member pushing a button to invert the wing, turning it against the wind.
While Sydney is just the third event of the season, the incident puts the US campaign in tatters.
The team finished last of the 11 teams competing in Auckland – despite Canada not racing at all on the second day of the event – and came away from the regatta with no points. That will be the case again in Sydney as they aren’t racing.
They will also be docked eight points from their overall season tally because the damage to the boat was caused by a member of the team and could have been avoided.
Although they started the season well in the light-air event in Dubai with a third-place finish, it’s a big setback for a team who were earlier in the week put on notice by league chief executive Sir Russell Coutts for their lack of development.
The US SailGP Team capsized and damaged their F50 in Sydney. Photo / Jon Buckle, SailGP
In his pre-regatta Russell Report, which he releases early each race week, Coutts said he was “incredibly disappointed” in the US team’s performance in Auckland and suggested they might have to look at making changes if Sydney didn’t go any better.
“They can’t blame their newness in the boats anymore – they’ve had a lot more time than teams like Red Bull Italy and Mubadala Brazil, which beat them in Auckland,” Coutts said.
“We have seen them on the podium twice, but both times it was in non-foiling conditions and with a four-person crew configuration. There’s clearly a massive gap between them and the top teams in foiling conditions and it’s looking like we’ll have foiling conditions this weekend ... and we have Los Angeles and San Francisco coming up next.
“If this weekend doesn’t produce a better result they’ll need to put their egos aside and start thinking of bringing some of the incredible, young US talent into their line-up – great young sailors like Harry Melges, Riley Gibbs or Richard Didham who all performed with distinction in the recent Moth World Championships in Auckland.”
The Americans weren’t the only ones to lose season points before the main event had started.
A collision between Brazil and Germany during Friday’s practice racing saw Germany hit with a massive 20-point penalty in the season standings, with Brazil losing four.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
