Answers needed for SailGP wing failure

The SailGP league likes the extreme, but watching the Australian team’s wing implode was another level during the San Francisco event on March 22-23. Skipper Tom Slingsby had their F50 in the start box of the seventh fleet race when the wing suddenly fell, with the crew unharmed but the cause not immediately known.

“We were coming into the start, we were looking for a gap and we realized there wasn’t going to be one, so we conceded and turned up,” he said. “I don’t really know what happened but my guess is that the wing failed right at that moment that we turned up sharply.”

While the early assumption was how the Aussies must have clipped a nearby boat, others are guessing how the new T-Foil daggerboards installed this season, which provide the boats more grip, are overloading other boat parts.

The Australians had been on form in San Francisco and qualified for the Final despite not finishing the last fleet race. However the damage to the team’s F50 meant they were unable to complete, handing their qualification place to France instead.

For video of the wing failure, click here.

San Francisco Results
1. Spain, 3-6-1-5-3-1-2-(1)
2. Canada, 5-1-2-1-4-10-5-(2)
3. France, 1-10-8-2-2-5-3-(3)
4. Australia, 2-3-3-4-5-2-11
5. New Zealand, 4-8-6-3-8-3-1
6. Switzerland, 7-5-7-7-1-4-7
7. Great Britain, 8-2-4-11-11-7-6
8. Italy, 6-9-5-10-7-6-9
9. Brazil, 10-7-11-6-6-9-4
10. Germany, 9-4-10-8-9-11-8
11. United States, 11-11-9-9-10-8-10
12. Denmark, 12-12-12-12-12-12-12
Note: Australia was third in fleet event, but broke wing in seventh race and could not compete in Final. Denmark disabled boat at previous event.

SailGP information – San Francisco details – Crew list – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 4 of 14 events)
1. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 39 points
2. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 38 points
3. Spain – Diego Botin, 36 points
4. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 35 points
5. Canada – Giles Scott, 34 points
6. France – Quintin Delapierre, 28 points*
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 18 points
8. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 13 points
9. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 9 points**
10. Brazil – Martine Grael, 2 point**
11. United States – Taylor Canfield, 2 points**
12. Germany – Erik Heil, -1 points**
* France was awarded points for the first two events as their F50 was not available
**Teams receive season penalty points for incidents during practice or racing

Season 5 Schedule – 14 events
2024
November 23-24 – Dubai, UAE

2025
January 18-19 – Auckland, New Zealand
February 8-9 – Sydney, Australia
March 15-16 – Los Angeles, USA
March 22-23 – San Francisco, USA
May 3-4 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 7-8 – New York City, USA
July 19-20 – Portsmouth, Great Britain
August 16-17 – Sassnitz, Germany
September 6-7 – Taranto, Italy
September 12-13 – Saint-Tropez, France
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain
November 7-8 – Middle East *
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE
* Venue to be announced

Format for Season 5:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Five 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 prize purse (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $400,000.00 USD prize purse with winning team 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 a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $2 million USD prize).
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will get a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had a $350,000.00 prize).
• Ten of the 12 teams are privately owned, with the league having ownership of New Zealand and Spain.

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.