Rival’s subtle swipe as Aussies dudded by ‘totally unfair’ penalty that flips SailGP race

The SailGP season continues this weekend and the all conquering Aussies have some work to do after copping a seriously harsh penalty.

Australia’s spot in the SailGP Grand Final is suddenly under threat after officials refused to budge on a harsh points penalty over a scary crash at the last event in New Zealand.

After the first day of action in Christchurch was cancelled because of dolphins being in the water near the racecourse, it all came down to one day of action.

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.

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.

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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.

“I kind of had the choice to run straight through Canada or hit the mark,” Australian driver Tom Slingsby explained in the latest episode of SailGP’s Racing On The Edge documentary.

“It’s terrible for us — being out of the event instantly, a lot of damage to the boat.

“But I think if I carried on straight I would have really injured someone. So I’m glad I did what I did.”

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

It seemed Slingsby made a sensible choice, but following an investigation from SailGP umpires, the Australians were determined to be at fault for the collision and have been docked 12 event points and 8 overall season points.

The Aussies described the penalty as “totally unfair” and lodged an official protest, but it fell on deaf ears.

“This is double the highest penalty points ever given and it’s defined as reckless sailing - so in their minds this is the most reckless sailing we’ve ever seen in SailGP, which is definitely not the case,” Slingsby said.

“The fact is that we would have been no better off if we’d have done a reckless manoeuvre and running straight through Canada, injuring people, we would have received exactly the same amount of penalty points.”

SailGP’s chief umpire Craig Mitchell said the 12-point penalty was upheld for “breaking Rule 57” and “causing serious damage” to the team’s F50 by “running over the finish line mark in the first race”.

Mitchell said: “The points penalties are harsh and can have a big impact on a team’s season, but the league is committed to reducing contact between boats in order to reduce the instances of teams missing regattas due to equipment breakage.”

Peter Burling and Tom Slingsby have a strong rivalry.

Rule 57, which is specific to SailGP, penalises teams for causing damage to their own or other F50s by reckless sailing.

The severity of the damage is defined as “minor damage”, “damage” or “serious damage”, with penalty points increasing according to the assigned category. Australia was found to have caused “serious damage”, earning it the highest possible penalty.

While Mitchell acknowledged that the Australian team “totally disagrees with the umpires’ point of view’’and argues “the event should take more responsibility for the incident”, he said Rule 57 is “black and white”.

“Either you could avoid contact or it was not reasonably possible to avoid contact - there is no middle ground,” Mitchell said.

He acknowledged that the “mark was not in an ideal position”, but argued “it had been there long enough for teams to be aware of it and there had been opportunity for Australia to avoid it while on the leg between Mark 1 and Gate 2”.

Peter Burling’s New Zealand is now the team to beat in SailGP. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Australia’s biggest rivals, New Zealand’s recently-rebranded Black Foils, claimed victory on their home waters in a triumphant return for skipper Peter Burling.

“It’s incredible to see the Aussies take so long to get a win on the board this season,” Burling said with a grin in Racing On The Edge.

“They obviously got one against us when we were in a slightly weakened squad,” he added, referring to Australia’s droughtbreaking win in Sydney, which he missed to be at the birth of his first child.

Australia had been leading the overall standings but now find themselves nine points adrift of New Zealand following the hefty penalty.

After being pipped at the post by the Aussies in last year’s Grand Final, the Kiwis are now in the box seat to break Australia’s SailGP dynasty that has seen them win the first three championships.

SailGP season four continues this weekend in Bermuda, and Australia’s Tech Team has managed to repair the damaged beam on the boat so it is ready to race again.

Watch the latest episode of Racing On The Edge and all the action from SailGP Bermuda on Kayo Sports. Coverage begins at 3am AEST on Saturday and Sunday morning AEST or watch the replays later in the morning.

SailGP season four leaderboard

New Zealand — 68 points

Australia — 59 points

Spain — 55 points

France — 54 points

Denmark — 50

United States — 48

Canada — 46

Great Britain — 45

Germany — 27

Switzerland — 22

Originally published as Rival’s subtle swipe as Aussies dudded by ‘totally unfair’ penalty that flips SailGP race