Germany SailGP Team have won their second race in a row at the ROCKWOOL Germany Sail Grand Prix, coming from last to first by finding breeze nobody else on the course could find, while Tom Slingsby's Bonds Flying Roos sailed straight into a hole on the other side of the track and were stopped dead.
Rain squalls moved through Sassnitz before the start and kept coming through the first half of the race, forcing every team onto the smaller 18-metre wing and a bigger jib to cope with the stronger gusts. That configuration became a problem every time the wind dropped, which it did hard and often through the first half of the race. Boats foiling at 50km/h one moment were down to 15 or 16km/h the next, in the same stretch of water, with no way to know which side of the course would still have breeze in it two minutes later.
Australia had the start covered. Slingsby got the Bonds Flying Roos away clean while Germany and NorthStar Canada were both over the line early and had to serve penalties before the first mark. Australia rounded Mark 1 in front and held it through Mark 2, with Emirates GBR in second.
At the bottom gate on the second lap, Australia went in loose, and the wash from their manoeuvre caught out Artemis Sweden right behind them. Sweden's centreboard failed to lock down, dropping them off the foils entirely, and while their crew worked to reset it they also had to give way to Germany, costing them more time on top of it. Germany, running last at that point, picked their way straight through the gap Sweden's trouble had opened up and were battling for third within moments.
Erik Kosegarten-Heil took Germany up the left side of the course, reading the shoreline breeze off a season of training out of nearby Kiel, and hit 55km/h while Australia, on the other side of the track, were down to 24km/h. Australia had sailed into a dead patch so complete that both hulls settled back into the water. By the time they found breeze again, Germany had opened a lead the broadcast put at close to a kilometre, and it kept growing.
Canada's day went the opposite direction. Giles Scott's crew went from an early-penalty last place to second by the finish, working the wind shifts down the boundary to come through Emirates GBR, Sweden and Australia. Sweden recovered from their foiling trouble at the bottom gate to reclaim third, riding a return of pressure back up the course. Emirates GBR held fourth. Australia never got back what the wind hole cost them, coming home fifth. The US SailGP Team never got into podium contention and finished last.
| Pos | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank | 11:56.8 |
| 2 | NorthStar Canada | +1:15.7 |
| 3 | Artemis (Sweden) | +1:44.8 |
| 4 | Emirates GBR | +2:10.7 |
| 5 | Bonds Flying Roos (Australia) | +2:24.4 |
| 6 | US SailGP Team | +2:39.7 |
*Germany and NorthStar Canada were both penalised for being over the start line early, both served before Mark 1. Artemis Sweden were penalised at the second gate. Germany were also penalised after finishing for failing to sail her proper course and interfering with the US SailGP Team; it did not change the finishing order.*
A repeat of yesterday, almost line for line
Germany, Canada, Artemis and Emirates GBR finished in exactly that order in yesterday's Race 3 in Sassnitz too. The only change today was at the bottom of the fleet, where Australia's wind-hole trouble dropped them to fifth in place of the foul that cost them the same result on Saturday.
Group B: a four-way tie at the top
Group B is now a four-way logjam heading into the day's final race. Artemis Sweden and NorthStar Canada are tied on 12 points, with Germany and Australia tied on 11 right behind them. Emirates GBR sit on 9, three points off the top four and needing a big result to have any chance. The US SailGP Team, on 5 points with one race left, are all but out of contention.
With four boats separated by a single point and only the top two going through to Sunday's final, Saturday's Race 3 result already showed how quickly this group can flip. Whoever finishes ahead of the other three in Group B's remaining race goes through. Both results so far have been decided by which crew found the breeze first, not who led off the start line, and there's no reason to expect that to change.
