Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
SailGP championships leaders Australia have copped boat damage and a dent to their title tilt in extreme conditions on a chaotic opening day to the New York event off Manhattan.
With wind gusts of more than 40/h battering the race course, craning operations to lift boats onto the water were limited and, with time running out, organisers opted to put only the four leading teams – Australia, Britain, Spain and the US – out for Saturday’s racing.
The Aussies (BONDS Flying Roos) were knocked out before racing even began when their F50 catamaran nose-dived severely following an on-board hydraulic issue.
They were left making urgent repairs to be ready for Sunday’s action.
Britain (Emirates GBR) struck first, winning the opening race of just two boats, before defending New York champions Spain (Los Gallos) mastered the brutal conditions to take victory in races two and three and finish the day on top of the event leaderboard with four points.
“It’s kind of a weird weekend with the conditions we have today. You cannot fight Mother Nature many times,” said Spain’s skipper Diego Botin.
For the US team, racing on home waters for the first time this season, it was intially a day of frustration as their boat was not on the water in time for the delayed start of race one before they finished third in races two and three.
But they produced one of the standout moments, with their F50 hitting 100km/h during race three – just 3 km/h short of SailGP’s all-time speed record.
The full Sail GP fleet is expected to contest Sunday’s racing.
