SailGP USA’s Mike Buckley says the training day ahead of SailGP’s Sydney regatta this weekend dawned with a renewed focus and anticipation of a reboot after finishing last in Auckland less than a month ago. But as the hours rolled on, so too did the proverbial snowball. With technical issues onboard the F50 they were delayed getting off the mooring and underway, and then in a rush to the racecourse under a high-speed tow, they were caught off guard and quickly capsized. The resultant damage was significant enough to put an end to their race weekend.
“We were well behind trying to get to the practice start,” Buckley said on a media call late on Friday EST. “As we turned the corner to go under the bridge, a puff hit—we didn’t have a jib up—and unfortunately led to a capsize.”
The damage is beyond immediate repair, he added, so there will be no racing for the American team.
“A series of events usually lead to a situation like this,” Buckley said. “And looking back in hindsight kept me up thinking about the what ifs, but that’s not the way life works and it’s not the way this league works.”
Ahead of a full damage assessment from the league’s technical team, Buckley or Canfield could not elaborate on the extent of the damage, but footage post-recovery confirmed significant wing damage, and neither the team nor the league have a wing to spare, leaving the Americans ashore with no options but to watch and learn.
“We’ll open our computers with our coach and our race engineer and go over with them what they saw with the practice laps,” Buckley said. “We’ll be looking at everyone else’s data, so it’s not completely lost.
While Buckley’s body language was telling of his frustration, Canfield was more pragmatic, and happy to put a positive spin on the American team’s situation.
“This is a great opportunity to learn more than we would normally about the T-foils and what other teams are doing with them,” he said. “They really change the dynamics of the boat, the loading of the boat, and we’ll figure out who’s going best and what they’re doing. There’s plenty to learn sitting on the sidelines.”
As for collecting any season points, which count toward advancing to the Finale, Buckley was unsure whether league commissioner Russell Coutts would grant them any, given the accident and damage was on the Americans.
“It’s out of our hands,” Buckley said, deferring to Coutts. “We don’t know.”
The disappointing result in Auckland, Buckley added, could be summarized as “abandoning “the basics” and now, with no opportunity to get back to them in Sydney, any improvement will have to come in Los Angeles, the league’s next stop in March.
