Bonds Flying Roos win Group B opener as Germany fades in front of home crowd in Sassnitz

Tom Slingsby's Bonds Flying Roos led Group B's opening race at the ROCKWOOL Germany Sail Grand Prix from Gate 2 to the finish, hitting 94km/h on a Baltic Sea track where the wind swung by as much as 30 degrees over the length of a single leg.

Australia's move at Gate 2 put clear water between them and the rest of the fleet almost immediately, and nobody closed it. Giles Scott's NorthStar Canada sat second through most of the lap and stayed there. Artemis Sweden took third, but only after the two boats behind them ran into trouble on the run to the finish.

That trouble belonged to Taylor Canfield's US SailGP Team. Holding off Canada on the final approach, Canfield's crew judged they could make the next mark without an extra manoeuvre, turned in, and found themselves short of the layline. It cost them enough speed that Dylan Fletcher's Emirates GBR, doing close to 70km/h in the run to the line, nearly caught them. USA crossed the line 1.5 seconds ahead of the British boat, fourth to fifth.

Germany, racing in front of their own fans, never got out of the back of the fleet. Erik Heil's crew were penalised at the start for a windward-on-leeward foul on Emirates GBR, then spent the rest of the race chasing a deficit they couldn't make up. They finished sixth, over a minute behind Slingsby.

Race 1, Group B result

*Germany penalised at the start for a windward-on-leeward foul on Emirates GBR. USA lodged three protests at Mark 3, all dismissed with no penalty awarded.*

This group holds many cards

Four of the top five teams in the overall standings, Australia, Emirates GBR, Artemis and USA, are all racing each other in Group B this weekend, and only the top three in the season go through to the two million dollar Abu Dhabi decider in November. Interviewed on the water straight after the race, Slingsby wasn't reading much into the margin.

"Sassnitz really turns it on for us. It's breeze-on, shifty, but fun," he said. "Honestly, we happily give away speed records. We're not looking for it."

Australia hold a narrow lead on the overall table heading into this event, with Los Gallos Spain now within striking distance after wins at Halifax and Portsmouth. Germany, still chasing their first event win of 2026, will need a better showing than this in the two races left today.

Group B races again twice more today in Sassnitz.