Spain wins Bermuda SailGP

Diego Botin’s Los Gallos got the better of two of the leagues heavyweights – Australia and New Zealand – in a tense three-boat final at the Bermuda SailGP on May 4-5.

It was the Spanish team’s second victory of Season 4, but more so, it extended its lead on fourth placed ROCKWOOL Denmark and fifth placed France to get one step closer to securing a spot in the all important three-boat, $2 million Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco in July 13-14.

In the five-race qualifying stage, the Spaniards barely nipped by Canada to make the final, which earned them the right to face the two best teams led by Peter Burling’s Black Foils and reigning champions Tom Slingsby and the Australia SailGP Team.

But while the two powerhouses locked horns prior to the start, a late dive to leeward of both by Botin launched his team into the lead which they never gave up. The Kiwi team, which had relied on superior speed during qualifying to make up for meager starts, finished well ahead of the Aussies.

“It feels like we are getting stronger and it’s just an amazing feeling,” said Botin. “The fleet is super tight now and everyone is pushing. We cannot sleep after this either because otherwise the best teams will just get better and better and we need to progress and stay focused.”

Phil Robertson’s Canada team gave the fleet a run for its money, staying hot on the heels of first place – placing second in three of the fleet races. This all came to an end when the Canadians fell off the foils in the lead up to crossing the startline of fleet race five – making it to mark one at the very back of the fleet and not managing to make a comeback.

“It’s genuinely painful to be honest,” said Robertson. “We have been in the situation when the shoe is on the other foot and snuck in and it feels pretty good but copping it on the chin is a tough one.”

With the event win, Spain has managed to nearly close the gap between them and the Aussies – who sit in second place overall. The Black Foils remain on top of the season standings, and of greater concern to the other teams, were clocking the fastest speeds out on the water.

“It’s definitely been an interesting weekend for us,” admitted Burling. “We made our life a little harder at times but it is nice to be sailing the boat the best around the track, probably the best we ever have.”

Reflecting on second place, Burling noted how it feels like a consolation prize to beat the Aussies and extend their lead on the overall leaderboard. “We are obviously coming to these events to win so it definitely hurts to not feel like we were good enough this weekend and we just let it slip and we’ll go back and learn from that.”

The weekend had its fair share of drama – starting with a user error that caused a capsize onboard Taylor Canfield’s US SailGP Team before racing even started – taking them out of the competition due to significant damage to the wingsail. And it continued when Slingsby and the Australia crew came ashore and disclosed that they believed there were technical issues with the F50 during racing.

“I do think there’s some settings that were changed overnight somehow as we just didn’t feel like we had boat speed and there were a lot of weird things happening, which we didn’t have yesterday,” said Slingsby. “So, we’ll have to get to the bottom of that, but I don’t want to take away from Spain’s win, and they nailed that last start, and they were the best team. So, congratulations to them.”

On whether the Aussies can regain the top spot on the leaderboard, Slingsby said: “On the plus side, we’re back in the racing, and we got a podium in our first event back [after crashing out of New Zealand) and we’re happy with all of that. But the Kiwis are a stronger team than us, and they deserve the top spot. We’ve got a lot of work to do to catch them and we need to embrace the challenge.”

SailGP information – Bermuda details– YouTube – How to watch

Bermuda Final Results
1. Spain (Diego Botin), 7-6-1-3-4-(1)
2. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 3-4-4-6-1-(2)
3. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 1-1-3-8-2-(3)
4. Canada (Phil Robertson), 2-2-6-2-9
5. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 6-3-2-4-8
6. Germany (Erik Heil), 5-8-7-5-5
7. Switzerland (Nathan Outteridge), 9-7-9-1-6
8. Great Britain (Giles Scott), 8-5-5-7-7
9. France (Quintin Delapierre), 4-9-8-9-3
10. United States (Taylor Canfield), Did not race

Season 4 Standings (after 10 of 13 events; results and total points)
1. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 1-7-8-DNC/6-4-1-1-3-1-2; 77 points
2. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 2-3-2-2-3-2-7-1-10-3; 67
3. Spain (Diego Botin), 5-1-3-6-6-10-2-5-4-1; 65
4. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 4-2-4-7-2-6-9-2-9-5; 56
5. France (Quintin Delapierre), 6-8-6-4-7-4-4-4-2-9; 56
6. Canada (Phil Robertson), 3-4-10-5-5-3-6-10-3-4; 53
7. United States (Jimmy Spithill/Taylor Canfield), 9-5-5-3-1-8-3-9-8-10; 49
8. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie/Giles Scott), 7-6-1-1-8-5-8-7-7-8; 48
9. Germany (Erik Heil), 10-10-7-8-9-10-9-5-6-5-6; 32
10. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter/Nathan Outteridge), 8-9-9-9-7-10-8-6-7; 26

For scoring adjustments, click here.

Season 4 – 2023
June 16-17 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Los Angeles
September 9-10 – France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 23-24 – Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto
October 14-15 – Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía- Cádiz
December 9-10 – Dubai Sail Grand Prix | Dubai*

Season 4 – 2024
January 13-14 – Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi
February 24-25 – Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 4-5 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix
June 1-2 – Canada Sail Grand Prix | Halifax
June 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | New York
July 13-14 – SailGP Season 4 Grand Final | San Francisco
* Added October 3, 2023

Format for Season 4:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Up to seven qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the $300,000.00 USD event prize money purse (increases to $400k for Abu Dhabi with the winning team now earning $200k at each event).
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming the $2 million USD prize.
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will be awarded $350,000.00.

For competition documents, click here.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.