Watch: Catastrophic wing collapse in SailGP event
Chaos reigned at the start of race seven of the SailGP, held in San Francisco, when Australia suffered a catastrophic wing collapse. Spain clinched victory at the event, defeating NorthStar Canada (2nd) and France (3rd) to become the fifth winner this season.
Despite the wing disaster, Australia moves into first overall.
Australia suffers wing collapse at SailGP
No injuries were sustained during the incident and the cause of the wing dismantling is unknown.
Australia driver Tom Slingsby has unpacked the dramatic moment the Australian wing collapsed on the second day of racing in the Sail GP series in San Francisco.
Speaking after the SailGP event, Slingsby described the incident as “a bit of a blur”.
“We were coming into the start, we were looking for a gap and we realised there wasn’t going to be one, so we conceded and turned up,” he says. “I don’t really know what happened but my guess is that the wing failed right at that moment that we turned up sharply.”
“It’s heartbreaking,” Slingsby continues. “Obviously the results and the points are what they are, but we’re not even concerned about that. Just save the boat the best we can, everyone is safe and we’ve got a lot of work to do here.”
With salvage underway, SailGP teams will now begin an in-depth analysis to determine what caused the incident. “We’ve got to go look at the camera angles,” Slingsby says. “It was obviously close to the other boats, we need to determine if it was a wing failure, or was there something else at play? Did we make an error, or did the boat fail?”
Celebrating her first win of the season, Los Gallos strategist Nicole van der Velden says: “It feels amazing to win. It was super tight racing and we were really happy with our weekend, to come out on top and get into the final.
“We were feeling quite confident with how we were sailing and how we were starting, so super happy to finish it off well in the final. It’s great to get two-for-two in San Francisco. Now, a little bit of celebration and back to focus for the next event.”
Last autumn, the global racing championship announced a significant upgrade to its fleet of F50 catamarans with the entire fleet being equipped with new high-speed T-Foils for the 2025 season, replacing the existing L-Foils used since the league’s inception in 2019.
SailGP San Francisco
Thousands turned out to watch the action from a sold-out Race Stadium, framed by the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and San Francisco skyline. The racing returns to the water 3-4 May, with the Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix – the first SailGP event in South America – followed by a third and final US event, the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix (7-8June).
