‘Tough pill to swallow’: Penalty ‘hurts’ Aussies, sours dominant SailGP Sydney

Australia’s SailGP team dominated the entire weekend but the red hot favourites copped a penalty that ruined their chances of victory at home.

A brutal penalty has cost Australia a shot at victory at their home SailGP on Sydney Harbour on Sunday afternoon and left team driver Tom Slingsby fuming.

Australia had been the dominant team all weekend, blitzing their starts on Saturday and finishing the six fleet races with results of 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 3rd and 1st to be on 63 points ahead of Great Britain (51) and Canada (43).

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The Aussies were the favourites to win at home for the fourth time, but it all came unstuck as the Flying Roo approached the start line for the winner-takes-all final against Great Britain and Canada.

Chief umpire Craig Mitchell penalised Australia for being too close to the Canadian boat just before the start line as the skirmish opened the door for Great Britain to get a flying start.

The penalty meant Slingsby had to swing wide to let Canada go in front at the first mark, and from there it was always going to be an uphill battle to get the win.

With Shark Island acting as a roundabout in the middle of the course, Australia gambled by going the opposite direction of the other two boats in a bid to find some wind and catch up.

But the move didn’t pay off and the final race turned into a battle between Canada, led by Brit Giles Scott, and Great Britain, led by Dylan Fletcher.

Great Britain got over the line first to claim their first event win of the season.

Scott was Great Britain’s driver last season after Sir Ben Ainslie retired, before Fletcher took the wheel this season. Australian Iain Jensen is the wing trimmer on the British SailGP team.

SailGP commentator Stevie Morrison said it would be “a tough pill to swallow” for Slingsby and the Australians after dominating the entire weekend up to the final.

Slingsby was frustrated he wasn’t able to convert the consistent form into another steering wheel trophy for his team.

“Honestly we’re sailing so well,” he said.

“Top three for eight races but a third (place) in the last one hurts. We didn’t sail well in that last race. That’s a lot on me. Shouldn’t have got that penalty. Was just a second late turning up.

Team Great Britain celebrates winning SailGP Sydney. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

“We’ve got a lot to be proud of. I’m just sorry for the fans. Everyone thought we were a shoe-in there. It didn’t go our way but that’s sport.

“I think the penalty was (given) really late. Usually they tell you if you’ve got a penalty straight away and they told has three quarters of the way down the reach (towards Mark 1).

“You’d definitely change the way you position yourself but that’s not the reason we lost. Could the final have gone differently? Maybe, but I’m not going to blame the umpires on that. We didn’t sail well enough in the final and that’s the reason we lost.”

Slingsby said the wind shifts around Sydney Harbour made sailing difficult.

“Our timing every time we split (changed direction) was bad,” he said.

“It was just really hard to pick. That last race, the way the (wind) shifts went was totally different to the first three races.

“I think we were relying too much on what happened in the first three races and we weren’t open minded enough.”

It was a case of close but no cigar for Australia’s SailGP team in Sydney. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP.

The third placed result in Sydney means Australia sits second on the SailGP leaderboard on 24 points behind Great Britain (27 points), who have finished on the podium in all three events so far.

The Brits will take home US$400,000 (A$637,000) prize money for their win in Sydney, while Australia pockets US$160,000 (A$255,000) for third place.

It comes after a chaotic practice day on Friday that saw the USA, Germany and Brazil docked season penalty points for incidents.

The USA team capsized while its boat was being towed out, a gust of wind send the F50 tipping over onto its side and the boat sustained damage. The Americans were docked eight season points.

It wasn’t to be for Australia in the event final. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Under SailGP rules, a team can be penalised for “causing damage to its F50 that it was reasonable to avoid.”

Germany was involved in two crashes including one with Brazil. Germany was docked a mammoth 20 season points and Brazil lost four season points.

It will take a miracle for any of those three teams to climb back up the leaderboard this season.

The Australians are chasing their fourth SailGP championship after winning the first three seasons before being beaten by Spain in last year’s grand final.

SailGP season five resumes in March with a double header in Los Angeles and San Francisco on back-to-back weekends.

SailGP season five leaderboard

Great Britain — 27 points

Australia — 24 points

Spain— 20 points

New Zealand — 20 points

Denmark — 17 points

Canada — 15 points

France — 15 points

Switzerland — 12 points

Italy — 7

Brazil — 0

USA — 0

Germany: - 6

Originally published as ‘Tough pill to swallow’: Penalty ‘hurts’ Aussies, sours dominant SailGP Sydney