USA take Valencia title as one bad race ends Los Gallos’ final hopes

It was very nearly six wins from ten events this season for the Bonds Flying Roos. But then it all fell apart for Tom Slingsby on the final upwind leg of the four-boat medal race in Valencia, handing victory to Taylor Canfield and the USA.

Speaking soon afterwards, Slingsby didn't hide his frustration, admitting he was upset with his call at the bottom mark. Australia had favoured the right-hand gate all day, but on the last downwind of the final the wind shifted and the left gate became favoured instead. Slingsby explained that his crew stuck with the tactic that had worked for them all day rather than adapting to the change, and with a boat behind them already committed to the left, he saw no reason to make the harder manoeuvre of gybing away. He called it an own goal, stressing it took nothing away from the Americans, who had been pressing them throughout and eventually overtook them halfway through the race.

Asked whether he or Hollywood star and part-owner Hugh Jackman was the sorer loser, Slingsby didn't hesitate in nominating himself, saying that Jackman had already sent a message predicting he'd be gutted. Slingsby admitted he holds himself to a high standard and doesn't think he should be making that kind of mistake, given his age and experience in the sport.

Even so, there was a silver lining: the result leaves Australia's place in the Abu Dhabi Grand Final all but secured. Slingsby was keen to frame the defeat as a learning opportunity rather than dwell on the pain, pointing to how well the team has been sailing across every wind condition this season, foiling or not. Where he once dreaded light air, he says he now looks forward to it - a rare admission for a sailor who has spent his career praying for breeze.

As to the victor, Taylor Canfield sounded more relieved than jubilant after snatching the win from under Australian noses. He described a tense race track, noting that marginal foiling conditions can be more mentally draining than sailing at over 100 km/h, and credited a clean, disciplined approach and a strong start in both races for setting up the USA's success.

Red Bull Italy enjoyed one of their best results of the season, with strategist Jana Germani pointing to a huge improvement in starts as the key factor behind three race wins from four starts. She said the team had been working hard on starts throughout the season and finally saw it pay off on the racecourse.

Driver Phil Robertson, however, was ruing a costly error in the final race, crossing the start line early by what he estimated was a fraction of a second. He put it down to easing off defensively while trying to get a clean launch from a strong position, which let the Americans find extra speed, and admitted it was a lesson for the future.

Robertson also touched on the number of finalists with backgrounds in match racing - himself and Canfield among them, both former world champions in that discipline. He explained that the light-air starts favoured aggressive, "elbows-out" positioning at the pressure end of the line, with boats fighting to hold their spot rather than simply going for a fast start - skills he felt clearly carried over from match racing.

Denmark's Nicolai Sehested, another sailor with a strong match-racing pedigree, finished fourth in the final and out of the prize money, and didn't disguise his disappointment. He said his team had fought too hard for the favoured end of the start line instead of accepting a plan B, and then failed to execute a foiling gybe at the leeward gate, effectively ending their race. Sehested insisted the team isn't driven by prize money and would happily forfeit it for a win, saying what matters now is points and the bigger picture.

Perhaps the toughest pill for anyone to swallow was the Spanish team on home waters. Diego Botín's Los Gallos had led the standings going into the final race but missed the medal race entirely - their first non-qualification of the season (excluding two events missed due to equipment failure). Botín admitted it had been an emotional day, explaining that a poor start in the single qualifying race - reduced from two heats due to a lack of wind - left them fighting through a compressed, six-boat fleet with little room to move. A late gamble to force the boat onto the foils on the final upwind failed to come off, and Botín conceded it felt like a desperate, uncharacteristic move that left him hurting.

The reduction from two fleet races to one was a talking point among other teams too. Sweden's Nathan Outteridge said he was unsure why the second race had been dropped, acknowledging SailGP's need to protect its broadcast window for the final but suggesting more flexibility might have allowed everyone to get in the races they'd travelled for. He noted that the tight schedule made it especially hard when the strongest sea breeze was forecast to arrive later than the racing window allowed, a pattern that had also affected earlier days of the regatta.

As it turned out, the timing was driven partly by a 4:15pm football match between Valencia and Barcelona, which pushed the racing to an earlier slot. True to Outteridge's prediction, a gentle but steady sea breeze filled in around 4pm, an hour after racing wrapped up - leaving open the possibility of a different, higher-speed spectacle had the broadcast schedule allowed for it.

Based on Saturday’s performance, Valencia really looked to be within the grasp of Los Gallos. This one is going to hurt for Botín and Los Gallos. Instead, it's Taylor Canfield and the USA who leave Spain with the happiest memories of a dramatic, error-strewn weekend.