Good and bad news for AUS SailGP Team

Australia driver Tom Slingsby has confirmed the team will be on the start line for the next SailGP event on May 4-5 in Bermuda. After the team sustained serious damage at the last event in New Zealand (March 23-24), there was uncertainty if repairs could be done in time.

The collision with a race mark had destroyed the F50’s front beam, but a new part would arrive in time from the UK. This keeps the team in the running for the Season Four Grand Final, though the league had issued 12 event point and 8 season point penalties due to the incident.

Slingsby has criticized the decision of SailGP umpires to uphold the severity of the penalty handed to Australia for hitting a race mark in Christchurch.

The incident occurred shortly after Mark 1 in the first fleet race of the event when Slingsby was forced to choose between colliding with Canada or taking avoiding action to hit a race mark instead. He chose the latter.

The incident resulted in the most severe penalty in SailGP history – the loss of 12 event points and 8 season points. This meant Australia dropped from the top spot of the season leaderboard to second overall – nine points behind new leaders New Zealand.

Following the event, Australia appealed the severity of the penalty but was unsuccessful – a decision Slingsby described as ‘totally unfair’.

“This is double the highest penalty points ever given and it’s defined as reckless sailing,” noted Slingsby. “So in their minds this is the most reckless sailing we’ve ever seen in SailGP, which is definitely not the case.

“The fact is that we would have been no better off if we’d have done a reckless maneuver and running straight through Canada, injuring people, we would have received exactly the same amount of penalty points.”

Reflecting on the decision, SailGP’s chief umpire Craig Mitchell said the 12-point penalty was upheld for ‘breaking Rule 57’ and ‘causing serious damage’ to the team’s F50 by ‘running over the finish line mark in the first race.’

Rule 57, which is specific to SailGP, penalizes teams for causing damage to their own or other F50s by reckless sailing. The severity of the damage is defined as ‘minor damage’, ‘damage’, or ‘serious damage’, with penalty points increasing according to the assigned category. Australia was found to have caused ‘serious damage’, earning it the highest possible penalty.

While Mitchell acknowledged that the Australian team ‘totally disagrees with the umpires’ point of view’ and argues ‘the event should take more responsibility for the incident,’ he said Rule 57 is ‘black and white’.

“Either you could avoid contact or it was not reasonably possible to avoid contact – there is no middle ground,” he said.

He acknowledged that the ‘mark was not in an ideal position’, but argued ‘it had been there long enough for teams to be aware of it and there had been opportunity for Australia to avoid it while on the leg between Mark 1 and Gate 2’.

Mitchell also pointed to a number of ‘extra systems, support and athletes’ introduced to ‘enhance the racing and safety onboard the F50’.

“Having six sailors onboard now helps to share the workload and introducing live coaching with access to the UmpApp, onboard video, wing screen data and communication to the boats during racing adds to the team who are able to identify future issues,” he said.

SailGP’s points penalty system has incrementally increased since it was first introduced in Season 1. Initially, teams were docked 1, 3, and 5 points for contact, damage, and serious damage.

After a number of incidents in Season 2, the penalty points were increased to 2, 4, and 6, and season point deductions were introduced. Continued incidents in Season 2 led the league to further increase penalties in Season 3 to 4, 8, and 12 points for the same infringements, as well as increased season point penalties.

“The points penalties are harsh and can have a big impact on a teams’ season,” admitted Mitchell. “But the league is committed to reducing contact between boats in order to reduce the instances of teams missing regattas due to equipment breakage.”

For the full rundown of Christchurch’s penalty action, click here.

SailGP information – Bermuda details– YouTube – How to watch

Season 4 Standings (after nine of 13 events; results and total points)
1. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 1-7-8-DNC/6-4-1-1-3-1; 68 points
2. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 2-3-2-2-3-2-7-1-10; 59
3. Spain (Diego Botin), 5-1-3-6-6-10-2-5-4; 55
4. France (Quintin Delapierre), 6-8-6-4-7-4-4-4-2; 54
5. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 4-2-4-7-2-6-9-2-9; 50
6. United States (Jimmy Spithill/Taylor Canfield), 9-5-5-3-1-8-3-9-8; 48
7. Canada (Phil Robertson), 3-4-10-5-5-3-6-10-3; 46
8. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie/Giles Scott), 7-6-1-1-8-5-8-7-7; 45
9. Germany (Erik Heil), 10-10-7-8-9-10-9-5-6-5; 27
10. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter/Nathan Outteridge), 8-9-9-9-7-10-8-6; 22

For scoring adjustments, click here.

Season 4 – 2023
June 16-17 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Los Angeles
September 9-10 – France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 23-24 – Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto
October 14-15 – Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía- Cádiz
December 9-10 – Dubai Sail Grand Prix | Dubai*

Season 4 – 2024
January 13-14 – Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi
February 24-25 – Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 4-5 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix
June 1-2 – Canada Sail Grand Prix | Halifax
June 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | New York
July 13-14 – SailGP Season 4 Grand Final | San Francisco
* Added October 3, 2023

Format for Season 4:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Up to seven qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the $300,000.00 USD event prize money purse (increases to $400k for Abu Dhabi with the winning team now earning $200k at each event).
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming the $2 million USD prize.
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will be awarded $350,000.00.

For competition documents, click here.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.