Please select your home edition
Edition
Sea Sure 2025

SailGP: BlackFoils sort out starting issues and lead after Day 1 of Los Angeles

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 15 Mar 23:51 GMT
Fleet start - Day 1 Rolex Los Angeles SailGP - March 15, 2025 © Jason Ludlow/SailGP

The New Zealand Blackfoils team top the leaderboard after four races were sailed on Day 1 of SailGP Los Angeles.

The Kiwis skippered by three times America's cup winner, Peter Burling overcame their starting issues which beset their second and third SailGP events in Auckland and Sydney, winning their first two races. They were penalised at the start of Race 3 for jumping the start, but recovered well to lead at the first mark of Race 4, going on to place second, behind an improving French team sailing in their second regatta in a new F50.

Northstar Canada helmed by double Olympic Gold medalist, Giles Scott (GBR) is second overall returning a 3,2,5,6 scorecard to be 3pts behind the NZers. Australia helmed by Olympic Gold medalist and America's Cup winner, Tom Slingsby round out the top three on 27pts, 1pt behind the Northstar Canada SailGP team.

France is a further two points back, with a four point margin to the fifth placed team, Spain, lead by 2024 Olympic Gold medalist Diego Botin.

Before the start of the racing the French team announced the signing of a major sponsor L'Oréal Groupe, as major cosmetics conglomerate headquartered in Clichy, France, with a presence in more than 130 countries. They have become a sponsor of K-Challenge the sport-tech company backing the French SailGP team and the 2024 America's Cup team. The involvement of L'Oréal Groupe will extend beyond SailGP into other Youth and Womens sailing events.

In the opening race the Flying Roos picked up seaweed on their foils who were a long way last around the first mark, and did not realise they had an issue until the closing stage of Leg 2, when skipper Tom Slingsby wanted to know if they had a weed-stick on board.

The Australians bounced back to score a narrow win in Race 3, after a close tussle with the Brazilian team helmed by double Olympic Gold medalist. Slingsby dived through to snatch the lead on the final mark rounding - with just a short leg to the finish. However it was Brazil's best performance to date in SailGP.

In all other races it was a similar story with the competitors back in the peloton struggling to break through the turbulent air chopped up by rigs of the lead boats in the 12 strong fleet. The fleet were launched with their T-foils and #2 rigs to sail in the 12-18kt breeze in flat water.

Denmark had a disasterous first race hitting one of the racing marks with their T-Foil - which knocked the detachable, sacrificial tip off the foil and put them out of racing for the day - incurring a series and season points penalty - resulting in them being on the bottom of the leaderboard with negative points.



Additional Images:

Related Articles

Italian SailGP Team acquired by investors
The consortium includes Hollywood royalty, Anne Hathaway SailGP has today announced that the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team, has officially been acquired by a consortium of accomplished investors and sports industry leaders, including Hollywood royalty, Anne Hathaway. Posted on 27 May
SailGP Docuseries Spotlights Spithill's Sacrifices
Showcasing growth of the most exciting racing on water SailGP announced it will launch its first-ever, long-form premium docuseries Uncharted next month in order to highlight how the global championship has flipped the narrative on traditional sailing through the lens of Jimmy Spithill. Posted on 21 May
SailGP upgrades F50 fleet ahead of New York event
A series of upgrades are now under way to all 12 wingsails Following a full inspection and review, SailGP can confirm a series of upgrades are now under way to all 12 wingsails in the championship's fleet of high-speed F50 catamarans. Posted on 12 May
Diego Botin on 'getting back in the game'
After a slow start to SailGP Season 5 Young guns Spain may have swept to victory last season, stealing the Season 4 Championship title from under the noses of league heavyweights Australia and New Zealand, but they began the 2025 Season with a string of mixed results. Posted on 4 May
Grael reflects on Mubadala Brazil's first season
Challenging conditions, big goals and gaining the team's trust It's been a whirlwind first season for Mubadala Brazil so far. The team, led by SailGP's first female driver and double Olympic champion Martine Grael, entered the league alongside Red Bull Italy at the start of the season. Posted on 19 Apr
Australia expands to two events
For 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship SailGP, the global sail racing championship, has today revealed an expanded Australian footprint, with two events - Perth and Sydney - confirmed among the first 2026 Season destinations. Posted on 16 Apr
SailGP Rio event cancelled
After identifying a defect in select wingsails across the F50 fleet After identifying a defect in select wingsails across the F50 fleet, SailGP has made the difficult decision to cancel next month's Rio event (May 3-4) in order to facilitate required repairs ahead of New York and the remainder of the 2025 Season. Posted on 10 Apr
Australia SailGP Team wing collapse video
Looking at all the angles of the incident in San Francisco With salvage under way, the SailGP Technical Team will now begin an in-depth analysis to determine what caused the incident. Posted on 24 Mar
Spain SailGP Team snags San Francisco repeat
While Australia suffers 'heartbreaking' wing collapse Spain has triumphed once again in San Francisco, defeating NorthStar Canada (2nd) and France (3rd) to become the fifth winner in five events this season. Posted on 24 Mar
SailGP: Flying Roos dismasted in Pre-start
The Flying Roos (AUS) broke their wingsail in the final seconds leading up to the start of Race 7 The Flying Roos (AUS) broke their wingsail in the final seconds leading up to the start of Race 7 of the Oracle SailGP Regatta in San Francisco. Conditions at the time were a rising breeze of 10-15kts - well within the capability of the 24metre tall rig. Posted on 23 Mar