Spain on a roll, GBR back in business – the early read from Bermuda SailGP

Practice day on the Great Sound delivered the kind of conditions everyone had been hoping for – flat water, breeze gusting around 20 knots, small wings fitted, and enough action to see how this weekend could play out. With the 12-strong fleet split in two for Friday practice, there were six races with five different winners, and the fleet as a whole is looking pretty tight.

The choice of 18-metre wings – the smallest in the SailGP arsenal – tells you everything about the breeze, and the sailors weren't complaining. "The 18-metre wings are great," Nathan Outteridge told The Foil. "The boats absolutely light up on the 18-metre wing. They're super fast on the reach and on the upwinds they're just amazingly efficient. Whenever the config comes out and says 18-metre wing, A, it means it's windy, but B, it means it's going to be a really fun sail."

The Flying Roos arrived in Bermuda as the hot favourites after their four-race Sunday sweep in Rio, and Tom Slingsby is happy to wear the label. "I think probably 90% of the SailGP events we've gone into over the years we've been the favourites," he tells The Foil. "If you're getting called the favourite, it means you're doing things really well and you're gelling as a team. So in no ways do I take more pressure by that. I just gain confidence out of it."

As the skipper with perhaps the most experience in Bermuda, Slingsby's read on the racetrack is worth paying attention to. The Great Sound is, in his words, "pretty stock standard", with flat water and decent breeze. "I don't think boat speed's going to be the game," he says. "It's going to be who races well." Slingsby is open about what those conditions mean for a team like his. "When it's pretty easy sailing conditions, it brings everyone a lot tighter. For sure we'll probably lose a little bit of our game, but at the same time, we feel like we can win no matter what the conditions are."

The pinch point both Slingsby and Outteridge are watching is the leeward gate. "As soon as it's medium air and flat water, the boats all go really similar speeds," Outteridge says. "Getting around mark one in good shape and exiting that first gate is super important." Practice day showed why: when the fleet bunches, even the slickest crews are one nosedive or one misjudged tack away from the back of the pack.

Los Gallos look the team to beat. Diego Botín's crew were quick out of the blocks in the breezier conditions, took two wins out of three races in practice, and continued to show why Spain are a proper title threat. The Aussies are right behind them, and Emirates GBR look to have done their post-Rio homework. "Quite a few things went wrong in Rio," strategist Hannah Mills admits. "I think everyone shared a piece of that blame." A clean win in their second race, plus a strong recovery to second after a nosedive at the start of the final race, suggests they’ll be back on form this weekend.

The U.S. team are making a case of their own. Long pegged as light-wind specialists, Taylor Canfield's crew handled the breeziest of the practice sessions with composure and speed, taking a race win along with a 3rd and 4th. France took their time to find their rhythm, crossing the start in last for their first two races, but a clean win in the final practice race was an encouraging sign for Quentin Delapierre's crew, who are still working in stand-ins Liv Mackay and Glenn Ashby.

Not everyone walked off the water smiling. Switzerland popped a strong second in race three ahead of Australia and Sweden, but besides that were back of fleet. Germany barely featured on the water, presumably suffering technical issues on their F50. Red Bull Italy showed flashes of speed but kept getting punished for small errors on the foils. NorthStar Canada wasted their best start of the day. And Mubadala Brazil – already off a difficult home event in Rio – never really got into the mix.

With all twelve F50s on the line tomorrow, the margins are only going to tighten from here. Stay tuned as we bring you all the latest from Bermuda.