by Miranda Blazeby SailGP Media
Australia driver Tom Slingsby has debriefed the team’s racing performance in Los Angeles, which saw them finish third overall and struggle with starting on the second day of the event.
Data provided by the F50 fleet showed Australia with the slowest starting speed of the fleet – 32.9k m/h. The Aussie F50 was also positioned an average 35.6m away from the line at the gun, resulting in Australia having the lowest Mark 1 position of the fleet – an average of 7.3.
The team made its worst start of the weekend in the three-boat Final, with the slowest speed of the three boats – 22.9 km/h. The green and gold F50 was also positioned the furthest away from the line at the gun – 99.2m, and took the longest to cross it – 15.4 seconds compared to New Zealand’s 3.2.
Speaking after racing, Slingsby said: “The starts were a real problem for me. Just finding the gaps and getting to the line – it was tough out there.”
Despite struggling with the starts, the team battled back through fleet racing to overtake boats and land a respectable 10-3-1-3-5-1-7 fleet racing record to qualify for the three-boat Final alongside New Zealand and NorthStar Canada.
But the team’s qualified by the skin of their teeth. “We had to finish in the top seven and then halfway through the race we were in 7th or 8th and Emirates GBR was winning – the one boat we couldn’t let win,” Slingsby explained. “All of a sudden it got really tight there.”
The Aussies had to pass the United States to make it into the Final, which they just did on the approach into the finish line.
Despite coming third overall, Slingsby repeated his team mates’ assertion that ‘it’s good for the season points’. However, he already has his eyes firmly fixed on this weekend’s second event in the USA double header, with the league arriving in San Francisco on March 22/23.
“We always sail well in San Fran, that’s probably our best event if you look at our record there, so we’re ready to go. We’ll reset, I’ll get over this and we’ll come back stronger.”
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