Copenhagen, Denmark: On a day of highs and lows for the SailGP athletes and fans, the event site in Copenhagen was treated to a royal visit before adverse weather conditions meant day one of the Rockwool Sail Grand Prix Copenhagen was unable to host any races.
Earlier in the day, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary met with Nicolai Sehested and his Denmark SailGP Team and inspected the F50 up close, then met athletes from the Crown Princess’ country of birth at the Australia SailGP team base, including driver Tom Slingsby.
The visit was the main talking point of the day, as light winds prevented any racing from happening.
Sehested said: “I’m massively disappointed on behalf of the fans and supporters, but thanks to them all for coming anyway. I promise we’ll put on a good show and make it worth it if they come back on Saturday.
“It’s all on for tomorrow, I think the racing will be more important than ever, I think you’ll see teams taking more risks because the average game is off. You can expect a lot of tight racing tomorrow.”
Winner of the last Sail Grand Prix in Great Britain, New Zealand driver Peter Burling, was philosophical about the conditions.
Burling said: “I mean, it’s simple, for our sport we need wind and today just wasn’t to be. Tomorrow you’ve got to go out and it’s really winner takes all, it’s the first time we’ve had to do it but we’ve got to get on with it and make the most of it, it’s definitely a new challenge.”
Day two of racing starts at 3.30 p.m. local time and is live on TV2 in Denmark. Fans around the globe can check out how to watch where they are at SailGP.com/watch. A few final tickets are still available for Sunday but are selling fast, head to SailGP.com for more information.
Standings after three events:
1 // Australia // 29 points
2 // Great Britain // 24 points
3 // New Zealand // 22 points
4 // Canada // 22 points
5 // Denmark // 20 points
6 // France // 15 points
7 // United States // 13 points
8 // Spain // 8 points
9 // Switzerland // 7 points
