Australia has finally claimed its first Season 4 win after triumphing over ROCKWOOL DEN and New Zealand in an action-packed, three-boat Final on Sydney Harbour.
All three teams looked hungry for the win as the pre-start dawned, with the Aussies deploying aggressive starting strategies against its competitors, blocking New Zealand and pushing the Danish out wide.
But this dramatically backfired when both Australia and New Zealand picked up early start penalties, gifting the Mark 1 lead to Nicolai Sehested’s crew. Slingsby’s crew continued to pursue the Danes, culminating in a neck-and-neck fight between the pair as ROCKWOOL DEN fought to secure its first ever event win.
But a close call between the two at Mark 3 handed Aussies the lead, which was solidified by the Danes executing a poor maneuver close to a maker.
Despite making a comeback, the Danish were unable to take back the lead and Australia swept across the line to claim its first event win of the season and solidify its spot at the top of the leaderboard.
Speaking after racing, Slingsby said: “We’re so happy to win - it’s our first win of the season and we’ve been so close so many times but it almost makes it sweeter to do it in Sydney in front of our family and friends - it doesn’t get any better.”
He attributed the win to the stellar sailing effort of his team. “You don’t usually come back from a bad start in the Final but the team just sailed so well,” he said. “I got great information, what marks were favored, what the other teams were doing and we were able to set up a bit differently and overtake the Danish - they almost got us back but we managed to hold on.”
The event deciding Final followed two dramatic fleet races, which saw Germany claim its first ever event win in Fleet Race 4. Erik Heil’s crew nailed the start, dramatically slingshotting into the starting box to steal pole position. They were pursued by Sebastien Schneiter’s Switzerland, which picked up second place - its best racing result of the season so far.
Quentin Delapierre’s France bounced back from a disappointing 9th place finish in Fleet Race 4 to blast away the competition and pick up the win in the last fleet race. This meant five different teams claimed five different race wins across the weekend - Australia, Spain, New Zealand, Germany and France.
A close moment in the last fleet race meanwhile saw the long-running feud between Canada and Spain reignited, with the umpires handing Diego Botin’s team a penalty at the third gate.
The 10-strong F50 fleet will next meet for battle at the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch on March 23-24.
