Artemis sweep Perth fleet races as penalties punish Brazil, Canada and France

Race 4 in Perth was won on discipline rather than daring. With the course growing crowded and the breeze beginning to rotate, it was the team that avoided costly mistakes, not the team that chased the biggest moves, that came out on top.

The fleet was already trimmed down, Spain, New Zealand and Switzerland having been eliminated earlier, yet the remaining boats managed to create plenty of chaos at the bottom gates, where tight angles and awkward positioning made for messy rounding situations. The Fremantle Doctor held its form throughout the afternoon, steady and strong, but darker patches spreading across the water in the later stages hinted at the shift that would ultimately shape the outcome.

Italy finally nail the start

Phil Robertson, the Kiwi driving Red Bull Italy, produced the team's cleanest start of the day. Italy hit the line with pace and room to move, then rounded Mark 1 with the kind of authority that suggested they had been saving that effort for exactly this moment. DS Team France, despite launching into traffic, found a route through to the front group once again, and Artemis opted for a different approach altogether, choosing to build separation from the fleet rather than contest the first gate inch by inch.

Brazil showed genuine pace in the opening exchanges and Denmark were travelling well, while Canada fell into difficulty almost immediately, struggling first with positioning and then with the umpires.

Artemis find the shift and the race breaks open

The decisive moment arrived on the first long upwind leg, delivered by a wind shift swinging to the right. Artemis read it early and committed, building leverage while much of the fleet continued to chase pressure rather than angle. The reward was swift and significant. Artemis moved through the leaders and opened a margin large enough that the remainder of the race became a different calculation for them entirely.

With Nathan Outteridge and crew in clean air, Artemis could choose their manoeuvres, protect their lane, and sidestep the pile-up developing at the gates below. The rest of the fleet had no such luxury, continuing to lose ground and composure at the bottom of the course.

Penalties start to stack up

As the middle of the fleet compressed, the umpires found themselves increasingly busy. Canada accumulated multiple penalties for boundary infringements. Brazil were penalised repeatedly as well, picking up a boundary penalty and a port tack foul against Australia late in the race, a damaging run that dropped them well below where their raw speed might have placed them. With point margins between boats razor thin, a single penalty was frequently the difference between a podium position and the lower half of the results.

Australia turned the chaos to their advantage, though they also did the hard work to deserve it. Tom Slingsby's crew had been as low as eighth at one stage, but they found the correct lanes on the upwind legs, stayed on the foils, and worked their way steadily back to second. The USA added to a growing reputation for quiet precision, gaining places through sharp cornering and accurate laylines rather than outright boat speed, drawing on lessons familiar from Emirates GBR's approach in the previous year.

France lose the thread at the worst time

DS Team France had been the most dependable front runner across the opening races in Perth, but Race 4 exposed a vulnerability. At a critical point in the race they lost flight and could not recover clean air in time to matter. France slipped away from the lead group and finished deep in the order, their first genuinely poor result of the regatta on a day when they had otherwise been banking points with confidence.

A yellow flag and a clear winner

The race concluded under a yellow flag, a fitting signal for an afternoon defined by congestion and risk. Artemis crossed the finish line first, completing a clean sweep of both races held that afternoon and making a strong statement about their standing at the event. Australia came home in second, 26 seconds in arrears, while the USA rounded out the podium in third, another measured haul from a team building its points base steadily across the weekend.

Brazil finished fourth on the water but their penalty load reshuffled them in the final order, with Britain, Italy, Denmark, and France all moved around by the various calls issued throughout the race.

What it means heading into Sunday

Four fleet races into the Perth opener, the narrative has shifted. Pre-regatta favourites and headline speed no longer tell the story. The teams making ground are the ones handling Perth's specific demands, a combination of shifting breeze, chop, boundary pressure, and a compressed, competitive fleet all trying to occupy the same corners at the same time.

Artemis have shown they can read the course and keep their boat moving cleanly when others are caught scrambling. Australia have recovered well enough to stay in genuine contention. The USA have been the quiet achievers of the weekend, assembling a points total that could carry them into a Sunday final if they continue their current approach. France, who had looked like the team most likely to dominate, have taken their first significant setback.

Perth will not be decided by a single spectacular race. The event will belong to the teams that attend to the fundamentals, stay out of the penalty box, and keep finding clear air each time the course gets complicated.

Race results

Standings at end of Race Day 1