SailGP San Francisco: Slingsby reacts to dramatic wing failure
Australia driver Tom Slingsby has unpacked the dramatic moment the Australian wing collapsed on the second day of racing in San Francisco.
The Australian F50 was in the start box of the seventh fleet race when the wing suddenly fell and collapsed around the crew. Thankfully all athletes were accounted for and no injuries were reported. It remains unclear what caused the incident.
Speaking afterwards, Slingsby described it as ‘a bit of a blur’ and unpacked the immediate moments before it happened.
“We were coming into the start, we were looking for a gap and we realized there wasn’t going to be one, so we conceded and turned up,” he said. “I don’t really know what happened but my guess is that the wing failed right at that moment that we turned up sharply.”
Australia driver Tom Slingsby has unpacked the dramatic moment the Australian wing collapsed on the second day of racing in San Francisco.
The Australian F50 was in the start box of the seventh fleet race when the wing suddenly fell and collapsed around the crew. Thankfully all athletes were accounted for and no injuries were reported. It remains unclear what caused the incident.
Speaking afterwards, Slingsby described it as ‘a bit of a blur’ and unpacked the immediate moments before it happened.
“We were coming into the start, we were looking for a gap and we realized there wasn’t going to be one, so we conceded and turned up,” he said. “I don’t really know what happened but my guess is that the wing failed right at that moment that we turned up sharply.”
After establishing that ‘everyone was ok’, Slingsby said his thoughts turned to the condition of the boat ahead of the next event; the Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix on May 3/4.
“Obviously the thoughts go to our season and if we can get replacements in time and be at the next event,” he said. However, his biggest priority, he said, was ‘figuring out what happened’.
“We’ve just got to go and look at all the camera angles. It was obviously close with the boats, but we need to determine if it was a wing failure or something else at play - did we make an error?”
The Australians performed strongly all weekend and qualified for the Final despite not finishing the last fleet race. However the damage to the team’s F50 meant they were unable to complete, handing their qualification place to France instead.
