Aussies’ weed woes a silver lining after rudder disaster scare
Sail GP season 3 leaders Australia have avoided what they thought was a rudder disaster but the disadvantage of a more natural issue has still dented them on day one in Lyttelton.
Australia’s driver Tom Slingsby believes it was seaweed that saw them plummet out of contention in the third and final race. The defending and twotime Sail GP champions were racing in third when they suddenly dropped out.
‘‘We actually thought we’d broken our rudder wing in half because we couldn’t clear it,’’ Slingsby said. ‘‘We were just behind the Kiwis, very close to the British team and then we caught weed.’’
The Australians tried a number of tacks and sharp turns but couldn’t dislodge the weed that was causing serious drag, hence the concern for a broken rudder wing.
‘‘We limped around the course in last place and then right at the finish somehow the weed cleared itself,’’ Slingsby said. ‘‘We were off and going but everyone else had finished by that stage,’’ he quipped.
A broken rudder would have been unlikely to be terminal for Australia’s weekend, but it would have made for a long and uncomfortable night for the crew.
Australia wasn’t the only team to suffer a seaweed issue.
Jimmy Spithill confirmed USA had a similar problem with seaweed in the rudder when they struggled home for eighth in race one. ‘‘In one of the manoeuvres we got caught with one of our rudders, but it’s the same for everyone,’’ he said.
After that disappointing result in race three, Australia has dropped to be in fifth position on the points ladder after three races of the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix with 18 points.
‘‘We could have probably finished with a top result in about third place [overall], but that’s just the way it goes,’’ Slingsby said.
New Zealand holds the lead after day one with 28 points ahead of Canada (24), Great Britain (23), France (21), then Australia. After two more fleet
races today, the top three on points for the Lyttelton event will contest the final.
Australia hold a comfortable lead overall in Sail GP season 3 and are all but assured of qualifying for the winner-take-all final in San Francisco Bay in May.
Before Lyttelton, the penultimate round of season 3, Australia held a comfortable lead with 76 points, clear of New Zealand (64), France (63) and Great Britain (61). Just three boats will contest the final after the completion of the final round in San Francisco Bay.
Because of that lead, Slingsby was more concerned with their own sailing and execution going into today. He felt the results would come if they performed better and felt the Australian team had to take some of the blame themselves. ‘‘We sailed well in glimpses today, but we lacked a little bit in the boat handling and things like that. Our boat speed is fine. We’ve just got to improve our handling . . .’’
He also felt they were handicapped by going into the course blind with Friday’s practice racing cancelled, due to adverse conditions, and limited time before racing yesterday due to a delay because of dolphins spotted on the course.
‘‘A bit of practice would have been nice because we are a bit down on confidence. We’re not sailing as well as we have in the past. We didn’t know where the windshifts were and that sort of thing, but now we have got a day under our belt . . . But it’s the same situation for most teams too,’’ he said.
Slingsby said he was a fan of the Lyttelton harbour course, as was Spithill.
‘‘We were off and going but everyone else had finished.’’
Tom Slingsby