Nathan Outteridge and the Japanese dominated the first day of racing in San Francisco where the Blues suffered.
In San Francisco
The regattas of the last stage of the SailGP 2021-2022 began this Saturday in San Francisco. Under a beautiful sun, in a wind of about fifteen knots and a strong current, the British struck first between the Golden Gate and Alcatraz by winning the inaugural race ahead of Australia and New Zealand. Author of a good start, the French crew quickly received a penalty for not giving priority to the Danes and crossed the line in 7e position. Quentin Delapierre and his five teammates then finished 8th and last in a 2e regatta won by Denmark ahead of Japan and Spain.
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For his debut at the helm of the Spanish F50 replacing Phil Robertson (who will pilot the future Canadian boat in season 3), Jordi Xammar confirmed in stride by taking a very good 2e place on the last run of the day. “I’m new, I know very little about the boat so it’s great to have a successful day like this. It didn’t start very well (8e of the first round) but in the end I am extremely happy for my team“, jubilant the Barcelonan, dolphin of an untouchable Nathan Outteridge on the Japanese catamaran, flashed several times at more than 90 km / h, during the last regatta where the Blues closed the march (8th).
Provisional leaders of the Californian stage ahead of Australia and Denmark, the Japanese are now sure to keep their 3e place in the overall qualifying SailGP standings for the annual grand final that they will contest at the end of the day on Sunday against the Australians (1st overall) and the Americans (2nd). If they want to brandish in front of their public the check of one million dollars promised to the winner of the season, Jimmy Spithill and Team USA will have to show a different face than during this first day ended in the penultimate place, just before the French.
We expected better.
Quentin Delapierre
«There is better on the departures, it goes in the right directionwas trying to put a positive spin on Quentin Delapierre, who was frustrated by the French crew’s inability to materialize these good starts to the regatta. We are all stunned by this. We had a great week but we didn’t sail much against the current. We didn’t know how to play our game and I didn’t manage to get my head out of the boat enough because, casually, there were still a lot of moves to be made. But we weren’t on the right track. With this very unstable wind in intensity and direction, we had trouble finding our rhythm on the manoeuvres. We tried to find solutions but it was complicated. We expected better…»
Course 1
1- GREAT BRITAIN / Ben Ainslie
2- AUSTRALIE/ Tom Slingsby
3- NEW ZEALAND / Peter Burling
4- DENMARK / Nicolai Sehested
5- UNITED STATES / Jimmy Spithill
6- JAPON / Nathan Outteridge
7- FRANCE / Quentin Delapierre
8- SPAIN / Jordi Xammar
Course 2
1- DENMARK / Nicolai Sehested
2- JAPON / Nathan Outteridge
3- SPAIN / Jordi Xammar
4- AUSTRALIE/ Tom Slingsby
5- NEW ZEALAND / Peter Burling
6- GREAT BRITAIN / Ben Ainslie
7- UNITED STATES / Jimmy Spithill
8- FRANCE / Quentin Delapierre
Course 3
1- JAPON / Nathan Outteridge
2- SPAIN / Jordi Xammar
3- AUSTRALIE/ Tom Slingsby
4- GREAT BRITAIN / Ben Ainslie
5- UNITED STATES / Jimmy Spithill
6- DENMARK / Nicolai Sehested
7- FRANCE / Quentin Delapierre
8- NEW ZEALAND / Peter Burling
General classification of the San Francisco event after three races
1-JAPON / Nathan Outteridge / 18 pts
2-AUSTRALIE / Tom Slingsby / 18 pts
3-DANEMARK / Nicolai Sehested / 16 pts
4- GREAT BRITAIN / Ben Ainslie / 16 pts
5- SPAIN / Jordi Xammar / 14 pts
6- NEW ZEALAND / Peter Burling / 11 pts
7- UNITED STATES / Jimmy Spithill / 10 pts
8- FRANCE / Quentin Delapierre / 5 pts