On board footage captures frightening moment large sail collapses on sailors during $2m race
Crew fortunately walked away unscathed despite a 'very scary' wingsail incident during the SailGP event at the weekend in San Francisco Bay.
Team Australia’s Tom Slingsby was visibly shaken following the incident as they drew near to Italy’s boat on their way to the start line in the seventh fleet race of the event.
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The main wing of their F50 catamaran faltered and crumpled into the water in what was a heart-stopping moment.
“It’s a bit of a shock. A very scary situation,” Slingsby said.
“Fortunately, we’re all safe; that’s the first priority. Now we’ve just got to try and save the boat as best we can.”
Race organisers confirmed thankfully that all athletes were accounted for and physically unharmed.
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The incident meant Australia, who had been sitting in a promising third place after a weekend of impressive racing, could not take part in the three-way final race.
It was a devastating end to an otherwise strong performance for the Australians, who had posted fleet racing results of 2-3-3-4-5-2 before an 11th-place finish in the final fleet race.
Despite earning no points for this final race, the Aussies still qualified for the final.
However, due to the damage to their F50, they were reluctantly forced to withdraw.
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Quentin Delapierre’s France stepped into Australia’s place in the final where they ultimately finishing third overall in a dramatic event.
While disappointed with the outcome in San Francisco, Team Australia had already secured enough points to claim the top spot in the overall championship standings.
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“It’s heartbreaking,” Slingsby admitted.
“The results and the points are what they are, but we’re not even concerned about that right now. Our focus is on saving the boat as best we can, ensuring everyone is safe, and we’ve got a lot of work to do here.”
SailGP officials stated that the teams involved would conduct a thorough analysis to determine the cause of the incident.
“We’ve got to go look at the camera angles,” Slingsby explained.
“It was obviously close to the other boats; we need to determine if it was a wing failure or if there was something else at play. Did we make an error, or did the boat fail?”
France took Australia’s spot in the three-way podium race, with defending series champions Spain triumphing over Canada and the French boat in a tense finish.
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Spain crew member Florian Trittel described his team’s victory as 'bittersweet' after 'the Aussie breakage.'
“We would like to send huge energy from the Spanish team to the Aussie team; we could hear it through our comms even though we had noise-canceling on, so it must have been a massive one, and seeing that is never nice,” Trittel said.
The exhilarating SailGP global sailing league showcases high-speed, foiling F50 catamarans raced by national teams in a series of Grand Prix events held in stunning locations around the globe.
These revolutionary boats 'fly' above the water on hydrofoils, reaching jaw-dropping speeds of up to 50 knots, providing intensely fast and dynamic racing.
Each event typically includes fleet races followed by a final race to crown the winner.
The season builds up to a high-stakes championship final, where the top-performing national teams clash for the ultimate title.
Watch as the Olympic Sailing race ends in chaos with Team USA throwing away medal over shocking mistake
Looking ahead, the next thrilling event will be held in Rio de Janeiro in early May, heralding a new chapter for the sport with the debut of a brand-new Brazilian team featuring SailGP’s first-ever female driver.
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The action will unfold against the breathtaking backdrop of the world-renowned Christ the Redeemer statue, as 12 teams compete to make history as the first champions of a South American event.
Local hero Martine Grael and the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team will be looking to harness their home support when the races get underway.