Australia primed for $1.5m SailGP Grand Final after scary near-miss

Australia is in the box seat to claim a SailGP three-peat after narrowly avoiding diaster on the opening day of racing in San Francisco.

Australia and Canada narrowly avoided a disastrous crash on Day 1 of SailGP San Francisco. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP.

Australia is in the box seat to claim a SailGP championship three-peat and the $1.5 million prize after an excellent opening day of racing in San Francisco.

Tom Slingsby’s team had already guaranteed its spot in the winner-takes-all Grand Final but there was no holding back as the Aussies came out all guns blazing in the first three fleet races.

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Australia won the first and third races in a canter, using strong starts and the windy conditions between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island to their advantage.

There was a nervous moment during the second fleet race of the day, as Phil Robertson’s Canada Team almost collided with the Australians, which could have taken the Flying Roo out of the Grand Final.

It was the quick thinking of Slingsby who turned the F50 boat up quickly to avoid a catastrophe.

“I don’t know if they didn’t see us or they didn’t react in time but that was a really close call,” Slingsby said.

“The aggressive side of me that wanted to win the race wanted to press on them but then the other part took over and told me to get out of there and keep it clean to protect the asset.”

Australia and Canada nearly collided. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP.

It was as impressive an overall performance they could have hoped for and instilled the favourites with plenty of confidence ahead of the season’s Grand Final.

“That’s the day we needed, gets our confidence up for tomorrow,” Slingsby said.

“We’re in as good as shape as we can be, but we know it’s anyone's game.

“I’m happy. We had a great day, our confidence is up and we’re right in the place we want to be.”

The Grand Final is as high stakes as it gets. The winner will collect a cool A$1.5 million in prize money for their efforts, but second and third get nothing.

“We’re as confident as you can be heading into a one-off winner-takes-all million dollar race,” Slingsby added.

“If we do a good job, I know we’re really hard to beat. I’ve just got to focus on us.”

Slingsby said he will be going for broke to ensure Australia claim’s the winner’s cheque and a SailGP championship three-peat.

“If we’re in second place, we’re not going to be worrying about covering third place,” he said.

“We’ll be doing everything we can to pass because it’s a million dollars for first, zero dollars for second. There is no second tomorrow.”

The Flying Kangaroo sails in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Photo: Supplied.

Great Britain’s driver Ben Ainslie put on an absolute clinic in head-to-head match racing against France, dominating Quentin Delapierre’s team to put Team GBR in prime position to snatch the last spot in the Grand Final from France.

“You feel like Ben Ainslie is living rent free in Quentin Delapierre’s head,” commentator Stevie Morris said.

Great Britain are one point behind France in the overall standings but are set to race in the Grand Final alongside Australia and New Zealand.

Ainslie steered his team to a race win and two second place finishes, France could only manage two sixths and a seventh place finish.

Australia and New Zealand have both won three events this season but Great Britain haven’t won any so far in SailGP’s third season.

Great Britain could spoil Australia’s party in San Francisco. Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP.

Ainslie, a four-time Olympic gold medallist, is in red-hot form and will be a serious threat to Slingsby and New Zealand’s Peter Burling, who are both also Olympic sailing champions.

It would be a remarkable upset if Ainslie pulls off a victory in the three-boat Grand Final showdown, to be held on Monday morning Australian time.

“It looks like we’ll probably be up against New Zealand and GBR at this stage — two amazing teams,” Slingsby said.

“We know how great Ben is. There’s no denying it. He’s a world match race champion, world fleet race champion, Olympic champion. We know he will perform under pressure.”

The two qualifying fleet races and the Grand Final race will take place on San Francisco Bay between 7.30-9am (AEST) on Monday morning.

Australian fans can tune in live on Fox Sports and on Kayo Freebies.