Canada continued to show who rules on U.S. waters on Saturday. After winning in Los Angeles last weekend, driver Giles Scott and the Canadian team took the lead on Day 1 of the San Francisco SailGP.
Perhaps it’s Canada’s reward for doing a good deed on behalf of the Danish team, which has been forced to sit on the sidelines. A collision with a course mark last weekend put the Danes out of action in Los Angeles. Even more disappointing for them, the team had insufficient time for the repair team to fix the boat before San Francisco. So another weekend of no points, and skipper Nicolai Sehested said he already feels any chance of winning the season has slipped away.
Feeling the pain of their fellow competitors, Canada adopted the Rockwool branding from the Danish team in a show of support and solidarity. Karma appeared to work its magic as the Canadians roared to the most consistent performance of the 11-boat fleet, scoring 5, 1, 2, 1 across the four heats.
The racetrack, situated between the Golden Gate Bridge at the windward end of the course and the prison island of Alcatraz at the bottom end, gave the sailors plenty to think about, especially the strong current that flows through the Bay. But after the tight confines in Los Angeles, Scott enjoyed letting the Canadian boat rip on a bigger field of play.
“It’s really nice to be on a bigger course for the first time in a while — stretch your legs, pick a few wind shifts,” he said.
Scott made it sound easy, although he knows a good run of form like this can never be taken for granted. Canada is on a roll, and some of the teams must be scratching their heads wondering how to match this Canadian consistency.
How we stand after Day 1 of the #SanFranciscoSGP ⛵#SailGP
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After a wobbly start to their year, the defending champions from Spain have started rediscovering some of their 2024 form. Winning race three, combined with some other decent scores, was good enough to see Diego Botín’s crew in third place, six points ahead of the French in fourth.
The Australians never quite hit their stride, as skipper Tom Slingsby acknowledged. “It seems when we got a better start we didn’t overtake as well,” he said. “And when we got a poorer start, we did overtake, so we ended up with very similar results.”
Even so, Australia has a knack for coming out of a ho-hum kind of day nicely, and the team is in second place, three points back from Canada.
New Zealand seemed out of sorts Saturday, though sitting in fifth is not quite a disaster. Burling said it was plagued by gremlins in the on-board electronics, which forced the team to fall back on its “seat of the pants” instincts. Gremlins have been an ongoing problem for the Kiwis this season, and Burling will need the electronics to be up and running properly Sunday if there’s hope of making the three-boat final.
Any hope of the U.S. team making the final in San Francisco after glimmers of a good performance — like being in third place during the final race — evaporated as the crew struggled to maintain stable flight on its frisky F50 boat. The Americans sit at the bottom of the scoreboard and will look to Sunday’s three fleet races to restore some pride in front of the home crowd.
(Top photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP)