Spain’s Los Gallos head the fleet after day one in Sydney

Can anyone beat the Flying Roos in Sydney? After day one, the answer is yes – just about. Los Gallos lead the standings after back-to-back wins in races two and three, with Diego Botín's crew reading the shifty conditions better than anyone. The Roos fought back with victories in the first and final races to sit second, and Artemis in third.

It was hard-going for the fleet in Sydney Harbour. Light, patchy breeze that came and went without warning, boat speeds hovering around 30-35 km/h – right on the edge. Any mistake meant dropping off the foils, and dropping off the foils meant losing metres fast. The course didn't even feature Shark Island today, but the unpredictable conditions put up enough challenge without it.

Before racing there were changes across the fleet. Mubadala Brazil lost strategist Paul Goodison and wing trimmer Pietro Sibello due to personal reasons, replaced by American Jeremy Wilmot on loan and the team’s data analyst Richard Mason. Kiwi Olympian Jo Aleh was also listed as a strategist for the Swiss team.

France missed the event, their F50 not yet repaired, but were awarded five season points in recognition of the Auckland collision. They are confirmed to be back on the start line for the next round in Rio, but no timeline has been given for the Black Foils.

Sydney Harbour delivered an early home win for Tom Slingsby's Flying Roos, but it wasn't straightforward. In conditions that had every team walking a tightrope between foiling and floating, the Aussies capitalised on their rivals' misfortune to claim race one.

Nicolai Sehested's Rockwool Denmark looked to have it locked down early. The Danes nailed the start and led through the first two gates, sailing with the kind of precision that won them their first event in Abu Dhabi.

But the patchy breeze in Sydney had other ideas. On leg four, Denmark dropped off their foils and the Aussies pounced, opening up a ten-second gap that proved decisive. It was a winning return for wing trimmer Iain 'Goobs' Jensen, racing for the first time since a knee injury in Perth sidelined him for the opening two events.

The drama wasn't done there. Emirates GBR clawed into second on the penultimate leg when the Danes fell off the foils again, but a penalty forced Fletcher's crew to drop back behind Sehested. The defending champions had to settle for third.

Behind the podium, chaos reigned at the final gate. Phil Robertson's Red Bull Italy squeezed into fourth, with Diego Botín's Los Gallos snatching fifth. Artemis, who'd started at the back after a boundary penalty, fought through to seventh. At the tail end, Sébastien Schneiter's Switzerland won a drag race for the final point, leaving NorthStar Canada with nothing.

Diego Botín's Los Gallos showed exactly why they're former champions. While others struggled to stay airborne in Sydney's fickle breeze, the Spanish crew found pressure, nailed their manoeuvres, and made it look easy.

Switzerland had led from a brilliant start, breaking away with Spain and Brazil while last race's frontrunners floundered at the back. The Bonds Flying Roos and Emirates GBR were buried in the pack, while Rockwool Denmark and Artemis were worse – right at the back of the fleet.

But halfway through, Los Gallos read the racecourse better than anyone. They picked the stronger side on leg four, found that crucial edge in pressure, and flew past the Swiss. From there, it was textbook execution to the finish.

Taylor Canfield threw a daring move at the final gate, briefly getting USA ahead of Switzerland, but Sébastien Schneiter's crew accelerated away to reclaim second. Phil Robertson's Red Bull Italy swooped in to take another fourth.

There were casualties further back. Brazil dropped from third to sixth, drifting over the line as Emirates GBR flew in seconds behind for seventh. A penalty had forced the Flying Roos behind the Brits, dropping the race one winners to eighth. The Danes followed their second place with a tenth, and NorthStar Canada came in last again.

The conditions dropped further – the crews cut down to four – and it was carnage at the start. Australia, Denmark, and Germany misjudged it and were all pinged for being over the line early. USA and Switzerland got tangled in an incident that left both teams stuck at the start line.

Meanwhile, Diego Botín was in a different race entirely. While half the fleet floated around the start box collecting penalties and trying to recover, Los Gallos threaded through the fleet and disappeared into clean air. Nathan Outteridge's Artemis pushed hard in second, swiping the position from a briefly promising NorthStar Canada at the first gate. Phil Robertson kept up the consistency to put Italy in third.

By the halfway mark, Los Gallos had a 300-metre margin and were lapping stragglers. A full kilometre separated the front of the fleet from the back, and Los Gallos flew to a comfortable victory. With back-to-back race wins, Spain topped the leaderboard.

“You need to stay in the present,” Botín said afterwards. “Don't look too far ahead – stay inside the boat.”

The fight for second delivered drama: Outteridge and Robertson went neck-and-neck at the final gate, racing to get back on foils, but it was the Swedes who held off Italy to take the spot. Behind them, Martine Grael delivered Brazil's best result of the day, fending off aggressive racing from Dylan Fletcher on the final stretch to take fourth.

After the start penalty that put them in last, the Flying Roos managed to claw back to sixth. USA's start incident knocked them to tenth and off the podium in the standings. Rockwool Denmark, second in race one, finished dead last.

Tom Slingsby doesn't do quiet finishes. After a frustrating middle of the day, the Flying Roos skipper delivered exactly when it mattered – bookending day one with victories on home water.

It was Emirates GBR who led off the line and rounded mark one ahead of NorthStar and Artemis, with Australia in fourth. The wind had dropped further still, four-person crews doing everything they could to stay airborne. Much of the race saw H1 racing, with one hull dragging through the water.

Then Slingsby found pressure. On leg four, the Roos hit 50 km/h while Emirates GBR bobbed along at 15 km/h on the wrong side of the course. The Australians capitalised, sailing cleanly to the finish to take their second win of the day.

After a shuffling of the fleet, Erik Heil's Germany claimed second, with Taylor Canfield's USA rounding out the podium. Artemis took fourth, while Los Gallos' respectable fifth kept them top of the leaderboard heading into Sunday.

There were some casualties. Having led the start, the Brits finished in sixth. NorthStar Canada fell from second at mark one to eighth by the finish, while Italy – consistent up until that point – finished dead last, dropping them from second to fifth in the standings.

“I don't think I've ever raced on the harbour when it's been like that,” Slingsby said of the conditions after. “It was a learning experience for us all, but I was glad we bounced back in that last race and got a good one.”

Slingsby admitted the twilight racing took some adjusting to. “It got really glare-y as the sun was setting, but the clouds rolled in and actually helped us a lot with vision on the racecourse. It was beautiful – I hope everyone else enjoyed it too.”

Day one in Sydney proved one thing: in these patchy, unpredictable conditions, one bad race can change everything.

Los Gallos found a way to stay foiling when others couldn't. They top the standings. The Flying Roos also won twice – the first and last races – to climb back to second after a ragged middle of the day. Artemis' consistency (7, 5, 4, 4) earns them third without a single race win.

Emirates GBR are fourth, three points out of the top three and still within striking distance. Phil Robertson was consistent – until he wasn't. Italy's disastrous final race dropped them to fifth, but they still have a chance to turn it around. Sadly for Rockwool Denmark, their day fell apart completely, from second in race one to tenth in the standings overall.

“In these conditions with the big ups and downs, it's super hard,” Diego Botín said. “Today we needed to work a lot to get the boat around the course.”

Tomorrow the forecast promises more of the same. With three fleet races remaining, the top three could look completely different by Sunday evening.

RACE 1
1 Australia
2 Denmark
3 Great Britain
4 Italy
5 Spain
6 USA
7 Sweden
8 Germany
9 Brazil
10 Switzerland
11 Canada

RACE 2
1 Spain
2 Switzerland
3 USA
4 Italy
5 Sweden
6 Brazil
7 GBR
8 Australia
9 Germany
10 Denmark
11 Canada

RACE 3
1 Spain
2 Sweden
3 Italy
4 Brazil
5 Great Britain
6 Australia
7 Switzerland
8 Canada
9 Germany
10 USA
11 Denmark

RACE 4
1 Australia
2 Germany
3 USA
4 Sweden
5 Spain
6 Great Britain
7 Denmark
8 Canada
9 Switzerland
10 Brazil
11 Italy

EVENT STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1
1 Spain 32
2 Australia 28
3 Sweden 26
4 Great Britain 23
5 Italy 23
6 USA 22
7 Germany 16
8 Switzerland 16
9 Denmark 14
10 Brazil 14
11 Canada 8