‘Could kill someone’: Australia cop brutal penalty for ‘unthinkable’ crash in ‘scary’ SailGP scenes

Australia’s bid for a SailGP championship four-peat is in trouble after they copped a harsh punishment for a scary crash.

Australia’s dream of a SailGP championship four-peat is in trouble after the all conquering team was docked penalty points for an incident that wasn’t even their fault.

After the first day of action at the event in New Zealand was cancelled due to an increased presence of dolphins in the water in Christchurch, it all came down to Sunday’s races.

But disaster struck for the Australians when their boat crashed into a finish line buoy marker shortly after the start of the first fleet race.

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Australia’s ‘Flying Roo’ was flying down the right hand side of the course after the start but had to veer straight into the buoy to avoid making contact with Canada, who turned straight towards them.

With no room to move, the Australian F50 slammed to a halt, with the buoy sliding underneath and piercing the boat’s netting — ruling the Aussies out of action for the event in a brutal blow.

“Big contact. Whoa that was unthinkable,” SailGP commentator Stevie Morrison said.

“They weren’t in the boundary, I don’t know if Canada can turn in front. That’s a massive incident there.

“Oh my word. Major damage to the Australian boat. That’s a day-ender. They might have caught something in the water. Wow. Massive contact. Huge, huge contact.”

Watch Australia’s SailGP crash in the video player above.

Tom Slingsby looks over the damage sustained to the F50 a finish line marker in Christchurch. Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP.

Thankfully no one was injured, but skipper Tom Slingsby was shaken by the incident.

“It all happened so quickly but at that moment I knew that we were going to hit Canada, so I had a choice to make and I wanted to keep people safe so I turned the boat as hard as I could into the course mark,” Slingsby said.

“I knew the mark was there but it was either that or go straight through.

“Honestly I am just happy that no one was hurt and we are all in shock. I don’t think it has all sunk in and it’s been pretty emotional for me.

“It is a really scary moment when you feel like you could kill someone.”

The moment the marker crashed into the Aussie boat.

Following an initial investigation from the SailGP umpires, the Australia Team were determined to be at fault for the collision and have been docked 12 event points and 8 season points.

Australia’s biggest rivals, New Zealand’s recently-rebranded Black Foils, claimed victory on their home waters, followed by France who finished the podium final in second place and Canada in third.

Somehow Canada escaped without being penalised for their role in Australia’s crash.

New Zealand are now on top of the SailGP leaderboard. Photo: Chloe Knott for SailGP.

The Australian team will work alongside SailGP’s Technical Team to assess the full extent of the damage to the F50 and commence urgent repairs, with the goal of having the Flying Roo back racing at the next stop in Bermuda on 4-5 May 2024.

The heavy penalty means Australia has fallen from the top of the overall SailGP standings after breaking a drought of victories on home waters in Sydney last month.

New Zealand now hold a comfortable nine-point lead and the Kiwis are now the frontrunners to end Australia’s era of dominance in SailGP.

With four events remaining this season, the Aussies will need to perform well to qualify for the grand final in San Francisco in July.

SailGP season four leaderboard

New Zealand — 68 points

Australia — 59 points

Spain — 55 points

France — 54 points

Denmark — Denmark

United States — 48

Canada — 46

Great Britain — 45

Germany — 27

Switzerland — 22