‘Given a few hundred dollars’: Aussie sailor Tom Slingsby’s ‘swear jar’ for fiery ‘tantrums’

Australia might be dominating SailGP but skipper Tom Slingsby’s teammates have given him a hilarious punishment for swearing.

Australia may be on top of the on track for a third straight SailGP championship win, but that doesn’t mean everything is smooth sailing for the all-conquering team.

Team Australia, led by Olympic champion Tom Slingsby, has a nine-point lead at the top of the leaderboard with three events left in the third season of SailGP.

The top three teams will head to San Francisco in May for a winner-takes-all race, with the winner to take home $1 million in prize money.

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The stakes are getting higher as the seemingly unbeatable Aussies have become the hunted, developing a fierce rivalry with their closest challengers New Zealand.

Tensions exploded at the Saint Tropez event in September, when New Zealand took an aggressive line that blocked wind from the Australians, forcing them to lose control of their F50 boat and sink into the water.

A ropeable Slingsby blasted New Zealand skipper Peter Burling and the Kiwis over the radio in an expletive-laden tirade.

“We might need to pitch in for some anger management lessons for Tom,” Burling said afterwards.

“I think it’s a bit out of line the amount of swear words he was saying over the race management channel after incident.”

Australia’s team driver Tom Slingsby is as competitive as they get. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)

The incident was one of the first times another team had taken it up to Australia and used aggressive tactics Slingsby has become renowned for.

“Saint Tropez was a good example of a team capitalising on a situation where they could hurt us,” Australia’s Jason Waterhouse says in the latest episode of the Racing On The Edge documentary.

We were in first heading towards the finish line and New Zealand saw the opportunity to hurt us. They had the right of way but they took at aggressive approach. That caused us to finish sixth and miss the final. That was definitely a key moment where you thought, ‘OK, we don’t have many friends out here’.”

SailGP has been likened to Formula 1 on water and Slingsby has previously compared himself to Max Verstappen, such is his tendency to lose his cool on the water.

Slingsby is as competitive as they come but the Australian team has had to introduce a ‘swear jar’ for their driver in an attempt to limit his profanities.

In the new episode of the Racing On The Edge documentary, Slingsby is seen donating a large amount of cash into a so-called “swear jar” with his face on it.

“I think $125 is too much,” he says with a laugh as he even jokingly drops a credit card into the jar.

“I have mixed feelings about the swear jar,” Slingsby told news.com.au.

“Obviously for me it’s a good incentive. I might swear a little too much.

Tom Slingsby with his famous swear jar.

May as well chuck the whole wallet in.

“It’s just a bit of our team’s natural way, we might swear. It’s not ill feeling or anything like that. It’s just how we have fun and joke around.

“I’ve probably given a few hundred dollars to the swear jar. I’ve had a few blow ups on the water.

“I wish I’d think about the swear jar when I am having a bit of a tantrum and it might slow me down from swearing. But I don’t think it even comes into my thought process.

“I sometimes vent a little when I’m out there but I try to get on with the job. As soon as the vent is over, everyone is quick to tell me how much money I owe the swear jar.

“It would be a lot nicer if everyone in the team had to put money in because some of the people swear more than I do. But I seem to be the one who’s always mic’d up. So I get in trouble for it.”

As for his team’s growing rivalry with New Zealand, Slingsby insists there’s no feud between the two top teams.

“I don’t have any ill feelings or anything towards Pete Burling and the Kiwis,” he said.

“For sure they’re turning into our rivals a bit at the moment. They’re sailing really well, they’re full of confidence and they’re trying to sort of upset the favourites.

New Zealand and Australia are the team to beat in SailGP. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP.

SailGP returns to Sydney this weekend. (Photo by Bob MARTIN / SAILGP / AFP)

“We’ve won the first two seasons and are leading season three. For sure, they’re trying to get under our skin at times.

“It’s just racing, it’s competition. You’ve got to be strong mentally as well as on the water.

“I enjoy racing those guys. I know how good they are. We love competing against the best team and at the moment they’re proving to be that. We’re really keen to go head to head with them in Sydney.”

SailGP season three continues this weekend in Sydney Harbour before the travelling circus heads to New Zealand in March.

It seems Australia, New Zealand and one other team are on a collision course to face off in the grand final in San Francisco, where there could be fireworks as the Kiwis give Slingsby’s crew their toughest challenge yet.

Watch SailGP season 3 and every episode of the Racing on the Edge documentary on Fox Sports and Kayo.