Artemis lead every mark in Geneva as Grael's U.S. debut ends sixth

Sweden's Artemis SailGP Team kept finding the foils in a gusty, fading breeze to win the Group A's Geneva opener by 26 seconds from Germany by Deutsche Bank, while Martine Grael's first race for the U.S. SailGP team earned no points.

Sweden's Artemis SailGP Team won the opening Group A race of the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix in Geneva, leading at every mark and finishing 26.4 seconds clear of Germany by Deutsche Bank. Spain's Los Gallos took third.

Like Group B's first race, this race also started with the fleet off their foils. An angled glide towards the start line, used for a slower approach, then at the start gun a turn to go straight ahead. On the outside, Mubadala Brazil was penalised for crossing the start line early.

The lack of wind continued to plague the fleet. In the hopes of accelerating their boat and then up onto their foils, teams cycling their daggerboards, but this drew the early attention of the umpires. Los Gallos were penalised within seconds of the gun for cycling too often; crews limited to six lifts per minute. It was the same infringement that caught both the BONDS Flying Roos and the Black Foils in the opening race. The U.S. SailGP Team and Mubadala Brazil picked up that same penalty inside the first two minutes.

Artemis, Germany, France and ROCKWOOL Racing avoided trouble.

Artemis went into the first mark on their foils and rounded 54.6 seconds after the start, with Dave Gilmour on flight control and Chris Draper trimming the wing. Los Gallos had served their penalty by the mark and were only 3.5 seconds back. Germany was third, 8.0 seconds behind.

The fleet split on the run to the DP World gate. The light-air was gusty, and a boat that caught a puff and got up on the foils, as Artemis and Germany did, makes its own apparent wind and keeps going. A boat that missed it was left sitting in the true wind. Germany lost 7 seconds to Artemis on that leg and moved up to second. Diego Botin's Los Gallos lost 72 and slipped to third. Everyone else lost between 88 and 104 seconds.

Artemis dropped off the foils in a turn at the third gate and needed a moment to rebuild speed, but they were quickly back up. Germany were foiling at the same gate and had a chance to close, but the gap stood at 27.3 seconds at the third mark and 24.0 at the fourth. The wind was reading 12.8 km/h across the course. Artemis streaked to the line at 32 km/h, with Germany flying at 44 km/h behind them and out of room. France's Quentin Delapierre was fourth, 1 minute 29 seconds back.

Denmark passed the U.S. for fifth on the third leg. Grael was doing 43 km/h against Denmark's 32 on the run to the line and cut the gap from 12.3 seconds at the last mark to 6.4 at the finish, but she ran out of race course. ROCKWOOL Racing took the last point. The U.S. finished sixth and Brazil, with Paul Goodison driving, seventh, and neither scored.

Grael took over the U.S. helm after Taylor Canfield and Harry Melges were ruled out with injuries, within five days of leaving Brazil. SailGP has billed her first weekend with the Americans, alongside Anna Weis, as history in the making. Mubadala Brazil's Goodison said before the race that he and Grael have sailed together a lot and know each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Artemis lead Group A after one race, ahead of Germany and Los Gallos, and the top two in each group go through to the final. They came into the weekend fourth in the season standings, a point behind the U.S. Both are in Group A, so every race is a direct comparison, and this one went Artemis's way by more than two minutes. Germany are defending champions here after winning last year's inaugural Geneva event. Group B's second race is next.