BONDS win Group B Race 4 as Black Foils finish last after boundary penalties

A breeze of about 14 km/h let BONDS Flying Roos foil clear of Group B. Emirates GBR recovered from a penalised start to take third, and the Black Foils fell from second to joint fourth in the group.

The BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team of Australia won Group B Race 4 of the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix in Geneva on Sunday. They led at all four marks and finished 1 minute 2.5 seconds ahead of the NorthStar SailGP Team, with the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team third. New Zealand's Black Foils SailGP Team finished last. BONDS are the first team to win two races this weekend.

The wind measured close to 14 km/h across the course at the start and 12.7 at the DP World gate, about double what Group A had in its third race. Some boats could foil, mainly downwind. The broadcast said a boat needed roughly 30 to 32 km/h of speed to get up on the foils, and more than 40 to stay up through a manoeuvre.

Emirates GBR served a pre-start penalty for sailing outside the boundary and were the last boat across the line, eight seconds after the gun. The Red Bull Italy SailGP Team crossed a second early and also took a penalty, and both were cleared within 38 seconds. BONDS crossed on the gun and NorthStar a second later, NorthStar having committed early to the foil at the bottom of the line. BONDS rounded the first mark 38.0 seconds after the start, 6.0 seconds ahead of NorthStar. The Black Foils were third, 17.5 seconds back, followed by the Explora Journeys Swiss SailGP Team, Emirates GBR and Italy.

BONDS were foiling on the second leg while most of the fleet still had a hull in the water, and they led NorthStar by 22.7 seconds at the DP World gate. Emirates GBR sailed around the outside of the gate and moved from fifth to third, 37.6 seconds behind, while Red Bull Italy moved from sixth to fourth.

On the same leg the Swiss, on port tack, fouled the Black Foils on starboard and were penalised. The penalty took them 1 minute 53 seconds to serve, because they had to wait for the Black Foils to pass. The Black Foils dropped from third to fifth and rounded the gate 2:07.1 behind BONDS, with the Swiss last, 2:41.3 back.

BONDS finished in 8 minutes 35.8 seconds. Between the third and fourth marks the umpires penalised the Black Foils twice for sailing outside the boundary, 8:16 and 8:19 into the race, and both were served by 9:14. The commentators had the Black Foils foiling at about 43 km/h while second-placed NorthStar were doing 17, with less than 300 metres between the two boats. Losing 20 metres is hard on a boat that is foiling when those around it are not, they added. The Swiss passed the Black Foils on that leg and took the last point on offer in fifth. The Black Foils finished 3:24.1 behind BONDS.

Emirates GBR, the defending champions, came into the weekend fifth in the season standings and five points off the Grand Final cut-off. They now hold the second qualifying place in Group B on 11 points, one clear of NorthStar. BONDS lead on 15, the Black Foils and the Swiss have nine and Red Bull Italy six. Emirates GBR driver Dylan Fletcher could be heard hoping for no further pool race.

A further Group B race is possible if the wind holds. MeteoSwiss was forecasting a building breeze later in the day, the broadcast said, though the wind on the lake can drop away within minutes. BONDS also won [Saturday's Race 3](LINK: Group B race 3 report). Group A's fourth race follows.