Podcast Ep. 7 - The fallout for SailGP after disaster in Auckland

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Neil Cole is joined by Andy Rice and Freddie Carr, who were both on the spot in Auckland and witnessed the devastating collision between New Zealand’s Black Foils and DS Team France that left two sailors with serious injuries last weekend. Our trio review all the events, from the cause to the effect that led to SailGP splitting the fleet for the final day of racing. But should the organisers have acted sooner? And does this mean a split-fleet future is the right way to go for SailGP?

Andy and Freddie disagree on a “line in the sand” regulation change, but converge on other issues including how the final between SailGP’s three champion teams – Australia’s Flying Roos, Emirates GBR and Spain’s Los Gallos crew – offered an upbeat sporting contest to complete what had been a difficult weekend.

What do you think about SailGP right now? To ask the team a question for episode eight next week, ahead of the next round in Sydney, drop a comment on our YouTube, socials, or at [email protected].

00:01:43 - Addressing the crash in Auckland
00:12:15 - Using split fleets to mitigate risk
00:20:15 - Software limiters causing loss of control
00:24:48 - Confusion over the split fleet scoring
00:36:44 - Analysing the three-boat final race
00:42:01 - The United States team’s performance improvement
00:44:20 - Boat shortages and future infrastructure
00:48:46 - Auckland event speed and overtake statistics