$2m at stake as conditions demand tactical brilliance from Roos to secure seat in SailGP Grand Final
by BONDS Flying Roos 29 Nov 18:36 GMT
29-30 November 2025
The Bonds Flying Roos endured an intense and unpredictable opening day in Abu Dhabi, staying firmly in the hunt for a spot in the USD $2 million winner-takes-all Sail Grand Prix 2025 Season Grand Final. With the leaderboard tightening, Tom Slingsby and his Australian crew head into the final day tomorrow, holding third place in the overall season standings.
Day one began with a shock when all four title contenders - Australia, Emirates GBR, New Zealand and Spain - found themselves fighting at the back of the fleet in low-wind conditions.
Four fleet races were contested with the 27.5-metre wing and three athletes on board, pushing all 12 national teams into light-air, low-speed survival mode from the outset. It quickly turned into a dogfight between Los Gallos and the Bonds Flying Roos, with both teams earning costly penalties for crossing the start line early in fleet race two.
The Australians then picked up a second penalty for the same infringement in race three - an error Slingsby later attributed to software issues - but the seasoned veteran produced a Houdini-like recovery, climbing from 12th to 8th in the dying moments.
"I don't know if other teams were having the same difficulties we were but our starting software kept saying we were racing, and we would pull the trigger and go, and we got two significant penalties today. It's frustrating but I saw a lot of teams getting penalties so maybe everyone was having similar issues," Slingsby said.
The fourth fleet race saw the Aussies' best start of the day as they capitalised on clean air and sharp decision-making to steady their finals campaign. The Australians recorded 10th, 10th, 8th and 5th, finishing the day in 10th on the Abu Dhabi event leaderboard. Despite the mixed results, the Aussies remain third in the overall standings, sitting four points clear of defending-champion Spain in the battle for the Grand Final.
Bonds Flying Roos Driver and CEO Tom Slingsby said, "It's extremely stressful. We're in a different race than the normal race of trying to win the event. We're trying to keep control of Spain and it's very hard in those conditions. Someone gets a gust or the helicopters get too close, which happened a few times today, and boats just take off and there's not much you can do about it, but we're trying to control the situation as best we can and we're in a better position now than we were at the start of the day.
"It might not look like that when we're back in 10th on the event leaderboard but as long as Spain is behind us, we're happy."
It's all to play for tomorrow for the Flying Roos who head into Super Sunday backed by their Title Partner Bonds and major multi-year partners, monday.com and Blueberry.
Slingsby added: "One strategy is to keep Spain at the back of the pack and the other is to race as fast as we possibly can. Our focus is to control Spain and then if we make the final, we have to forget all that. We will have a couple of minutes to reset before we're racing for $2 million and the winner takes all."
The two qualifying fleet races and Grand Final will get under way in Abu Dhabi from 9:00pm-10:30pm AEDT on 30 November. Australian fans can catch all the action live on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.