Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix - Day 1
by SailGP 7 Jun 22:32 BST
June 7-8, 2025
Diego Botin's Spain SailGP Team leads the fleet after a stormy and tactical opening day of the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix. France, ROCKWOOL Denmark and New Zealand are all hot on his heels for all-important leaderboard points heading into Championship Sunday.
As the starting bell rang on the Hudson, SailGP's fleet of international athletes took on multiple roles, with just three crew on board to reduce weight in light breeze. Straight across the startline, Diego Botin led the fleet to mark one, storming ahead to cross the finish line first.
Coming off the water, Botin remarked: "It was so hectic out there! The first race suddenly we were up - we didn't know where we were within the fleet but we got a good start and then we managed to give it our all. Managing priorities on the boat in these kinds of conditions and in different formations onboard - that's the toughest thing. You cannot stop fighting until the end."
Race two and a four-person crew meant an extra set of eyes and hands on board for teams navigating the flushing-out tides of the Hudson. Tom Slingsby - fresh off the hype of announcing a new Title Partner and co-owners, actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds - tore through the startline and kept it up, sweeping across the line in first. Martine Grael's Mubadala Brazil was close behind in second, with a consistent effort from Quentin Delapierre's France taking Les Bleus into third.
Tom Slingsby, who sits sixth after the first three fleet races of the weekend, said: "We sort of had an up and down day. The race win was great - the boat was going really well and then the last race, unfortunately, we had a few issues and had a bad race. The forecast tomorrow looks great - we're going to focus on that."
The third and final fleet race started with a drag race over the startline between Peter Burling's Black Foils and Nicolai Sehested's ROCKWOOL Denmark, as the Kiwis aimed to bounce back to the top after an 11th place finish in fleet race two. And boy, did it pay off as for the first time in SailGP racing history the New Zealand crew lapped the entire fleet, going three times the speed round the outside of the course and proving that once foiling, they were out of there...and across the finish.
Racing at home for the final time this season, the U.S. SailGP Team was buoyed by full grandstands of American racing fans. Driver Taylor Canfield said, "We could hear them cheering for us as we came by, and that's super cool. I'm so proud to represent our country and we're lucky to have this third event (Stateside)."
Prior to the racing beginning on Saturday, SailGP Chief Hype Officer, Grammy-Award winning music mogul DJ Khaled, hyped up the crowd. More than 10,000 fans are expected across the weekend, watching from the Governors Island Race Stadium and official spectator fleet.
The most exciting racing on water returns tomorrow (Sunday June 8) with a brighter forecast and shifty winds predicted, getting under way at 3:30 p.m. ET. Three fleet races will be followed by a winner-takes-all final.
sailgp.com
EVENT STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1:
1. Spain (25 points)
2. ROCKWOOL Denmark (20 points)
3. France (20 points)
4. New Zealand (19 points)
5. Mubadala Brazil (17 points)
6. BONDS Flying Roos (17 points)
7. GER Deutsche Bank (11 points)
8. Switzerland (10 points)
9. Northstar Canada (10 points)
10. Emirates Great Britain (7 points)
11. Unites States (6 points)
12. Red Bull Italy (3 points)