Flying Roos and Los Gallos co-lead after a sensational Saturday in Bermuda

The Flying Roos carried on their blistering form, picking up two out of four race wins in champagne sailing conditions on The Great Sound. Closely matched were Spain’s Los Gallos, who played a more consistent game, placing in the top four of each race. Both go into Sunday’s racing joint at the top of the standings.

USA, with a point to prove in the breeze, finished in third place with Germany Deutsche Bank and Northstar Team Canada tied on points in fourth and fifth respectively.  

Bermuda delivered its first day of racing on a course that felt bigger than usual. You’d expect the opposite, but the long start line, wide gates and a large field of play meant there was more room for boats to race neck and neck alongside each other. Among the technical gripes, match racing moves and near misses, there was no shortage of excitement.

The large bay allowed for a start line that was on the longer side, so it was a surprise to see so much of the fleet bunched towards the downwind end.

That bunching allowed the USA space to hit the line with perfection upwind of the fleet. They led to mark one and continued that lead for the remainder of the race. A convincing win in breezy conditions for the so-called “light wind specialists”.

Dubbed as the ‘starting king’ by commentator Stevie Morrison, Taylor said: “It's pretty puffy in the bay here, so just staying away from boats and having a nice run up to the line was the goal.

“We nailed the timing, I think the clock said zero time to burn, so you can't really beat that.”

The rounding mark, leading to the last leg of the race, produced some of the best boat-on-boat match racing moves of the day.

Canada’s Giles Scott pulled off an exceptionally well-executed dummy gybe to force Germany’s Erik Heil into a messy avoiding manoeuvre. Brave and inch-perfect, the move gifted Canada its first full fleet race podium finish of the season.

Following that, a poor gybe from fourth-placed Italy brought Great Britain into the picture. Fletcher grabbed the opportunity and forced two-time World Match Racing Champion Phil Robertson to windward, snatching the place from Italy’s grasp in the process.

Plagued with technical issues and injury, race two seemed to be over in a flash.

France’s stand-in wing trimmer, Glenn Ashby, took an unfortunate fall during the final approach to the starting line, resulting in Delapierre’s team withdrawing from the race.  

Throughout the race, teams battled technical issues with the foil and wing systems. Great Britain, Denmark and Italy all had issues that affected their racing. Italy looked to suffer the most with a last-place finish.

Vagaries aside, it was an impressive start by the Danes, Aussies, Americans and Canadians - all hitting the line with perfection. Slingsby’s Roos led to mark one and were back to winning ways, crossing the line 37 seconds ahead of second-placed Denmark. 

Australian strategist Tash Bryant said, “That last race was definitely a whole lot easier for me; it's an epic race track.

“It got a little bit busy in the first one, still busy in the second one, even though we had a little distance behind us. Can't wait to get out there again.”

Los Gallos and the Australians were in a race of their own in the third. The Aussies led until a split at the end of leg four catapulted the Spanish into a convincing lead. The first race of the day where the leader at mark one did not go on to win.

Driver Diego Botin said, “The basics are super important, but they are super hard to execute… It looks easy, but I tell you it’s not.”

The Spanish headed into the final race of the day with a three-point lead ahead of Australia and Canada, who were joint on points.

Despite a well-oiled Canadian team being in a podium position, they had a lucky escape from the umpires. Rocketing over the windward end of the line early, the Canadians had a very near miss with Red Bull Italy. Following France’s black flag disqualification in race seven in Rio last time out, they were fortunate to get away with a standard penalty alone.

The tight squeeze at the windward end of the line also forced Denmark out of the picture; they subsequently pulled out of the race. Whether that was due to the poor start or connected to the earlier problems with the foils remains unknown.

Following the earlier injury to France’s substitute wing trimmer Glenn Ashby, Australia’s reserve sailor, Tom Needham, stood in to allow France to compete in the last race of the day. The Danes were also back in the mix after their issues in the third, bringing the fleet to 11, with Sweden still out of action.

It’s fair to say that by the fourth race, the fleet seemed to have a much better handle on the timings to the start line - seven of the teams were at full pelt by the claxon. Italy and the Aussies went around mark one neck and neck, with the Italians taking the edge due to their inside line.

Robertson’s Italian team executed a double manoeuvre in short succession at the first downwind gate, which led to the Flying Roos getting the jump later on in the leg. The Roos went on to claim the victory and co-lead the standings alongside Spain at the end of the day.

Spain, equally as impressive but further down the fleet, had a poor start. They rounded mark one in second to last but ploughed through the fleet, picking up one place at a time to finish in fourth.

Slingsby said, “Yeah, we had a good day in the end. It was a tough first race, but we were able to get back in it. We’re happy with a good day, it feels like we’re in the hunt at the top.”

When asked on the Roo’s flying starts, he said: “I don’t know if I’ve changed much. It’s honestly just a few tweaks here and there.

“However we go, we’re always looking to improve every day, even after Rio, there were a lot of problems that we can fix and improve. Just progressing every day.”

Saturday’s four races offered plenty of drama on a course that rewarded boldness over caution. Australia and Spain go into Sunday's racing on 32 points, with the USA in close pursuit.

It sets up a fascinating second day that will likely look very different. Sunday’s forecast is for lighter, more unpredictable wind and has the potential to really shake up the leaderboard.

RACE 1
1 United States
2 Canada
3 Germany
4 Spain
5 Great Britain
6 Italy
7 Denmark
8 Australia
9 France
10 Switzlerland
11 Brazil
12 Sweden (DNS)

RACE 2
1 Australia
2 Denmark
3 Spain
4 Canada
5 United States
6 Germany
7 Great Britain
8 Switzerland
9 Brazil
10 Italy
11 France (DNS)
12 Sweden (DNS)

RACE 3
1 Spain
2 Australia
3 Germany
4 Switzerland
5 Canada
6 Brazil
7 United States
8 Great Britain
9 Italy
10 France (DNS)
11 Sweden (DNS)

RACE 4
1 Australia
2 Italy
3 United States
4 Spain
5 Great Britain
6 Switzerland
7 Germany
8 Canada
9 Denmark
10 France
11 Brazil
12 Sweden (DNS)

EVENT STANDINGS AT THE END OF DAY 1
1 Australia 32
2 Spain 32
3 United States 28
4 Germany 25
5 Canada 25
6 Great Britain 19
7 Italy 17
8 Switzerland 16
9 Denmark 16
10 Brazil 7
11 France 3
12 Sweden 0