SailGP: Australia tops fleet on first day of snakes and ladders racing in Auckland

A bumper racing schedule of four fleet races saw the Aussies pick up a solid 5-1-2-2 racing record in front of sell out crowds, finishing the day at the top of the fleet with 34 points.

This gives them a commanding six point lead over Emirates GBR in second, while Season 4 Champions complete the day one podium in third with 26 points. But there’s everything to play for when racing resumes tomorrow, with just five points separating the British in second and ROCKWOOL Den in sixth.

The four fleet races produced four different winners; Emirates GBR, Australia, Switzerland and home town heroes New Zealand, the latter of which bounced back from a lackluster performance to finish the day in fourth and delight home fans. This leaves the Kiwis in easy reach of tomorrow’s winner-takes-all Final.

Conditions were steady throughout the day, with wind speeds of 17 km/h gusting to 22 km/h.

Close calls, near misses and nosedives were rife as the teams raced with the new high-speed T-Foils for the first time. Small mistakes were heavily punished and there were plenty of costly moments, with the United States suffering a dramatic nosedive in the second fleet race despite making a stellar start and leading the fleet to Mark 1. The team had a difficult day, frequently falling off the foils and splashing down to finish 9th overall with a 7-6-10-10 race record.

Mubadala Brazil meanwhile lost control in the final stages of the fourth fleet race, missing a gate rounding and sending the team to the back of the pack to finish last.

Elsewhere, it was an improved performance for Ruggero Tita’s fledgling team Red Bull Italy, which recorded 3-3-7-7 fleet race results to finish the day in fifth overall.

The top performers across key data metrics were Mubadala Brazil, with the top speed of 87.69 km/h, Switzerland, with the shortest distance of 5.29 km and New Zealand, which picked up the highest average speed of 61.24 km/h and a 100% fly time.

The ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland continues on January 19, with racing from 4pm-5.30pm NZDT.