Who would have thought that San Francisco would be one of the mellower circuits of the SailGP world tour? After some windy, shifty conditions in New York, the six teams went into Cowes in the United Kingdom and scored a couple of scenic-looking practice days.
But when race time came, it was, quite simply, gnarly.
“The United States SailGP Team capsized within 30 seconds of the start of race one, but surprisingly was able to compete in the rest of the day’s racing with quick assistance from the SailGP tech team,” a SailGP press release said. “Despite a tough day, Kirby’s American team was able to climb the leaderboard for third place overall.”
United States team capsized, Great Britain Team took a violent nosedive, and the action off Southern England was completely mad.
On the last leg of the first race, UK team took a serious digger. “Chris Draper tumbling over Stuart Bithell in a dramatic crash. No injuries were sustained, however, the boat was too damaged to sail for the remainder of the day,” a press release said.
Australia Team dominated the event and is lookin’ good going into the fifth and final event next month in France.
“Earlier in the week, the Australian team sustained damage to its wing in practice and was unsure whether it would be able to race today, but Sunday morning saw all damage repaired and Slingsby raring to go,” a press release said. “The team, which only had a couple hours of practice in its boat this week, made a deal with the French, who loaned the Aussies their boat in exchange for some training with Slingsby onboard.”
Taking three bullets in Cowes, Australia Team now has a four-point lead over Japan — who took two seconds and a third. The last stop in Marseille, France, will hit the water in just over a month on September 20.
The Chubb US Junior regatta is kind of a big deal. Lots of hardware is up for grabs, including the Smythe and Bemis trophies and the Sears Cup — accolades that even we here at Latitude remember from our junior sailing days.
Chris Kostanecki, hailing from the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, took his saltwater sailing skills to the freshwater lakes of Michigan to challenge 35 other competitors in the J/70 Corinthian National Championship.
