New Zealand imposes itself with authority; Spain continues to decline

Spelling Game, 15 Jan. Team New Zealand, led by Olympic champion and double America’s Cup champion Peter Burling, won the Singapore Grand Prix in round eight, defeating Denmark and Australia.

The Spanish F50 ‘Victoria’ under the command of Jordi Xamar, with six more crews, has shown once again that it is far from measuring itself against the best teams. In the two sleets held today, he finished sixth and ninth, which put him in last place in the race and his final (eighth) place overall for the season.

The Spanish team was formed today with Joan Cardona and Joel Rodriguez (grinders) and Nicole van der Velden (strategist), Jordi Xammer (captain), Florian Trittel (wing sail trimmer) and Diego Bottin (air traffic controller) discarding Australian renderer Jake Lilley. .

Unlike yesterday, the wind today, although very variable in direction, has made things difficult, with gusts of 10 to 15 knots (18 to 28 km/h) and a temperature of 33°C, with some rain towards the end of the day. Routes should be limited to F50 catamarans and two sleeves of the day.

New Zealand’s win is highly commendable. He started the trial with four penalty points and entered the final in the top three.

A win and fifth place on day one and a second and third place today are key to reaching the finals. Switzerland, driven by Australian Nathan Outteridge, took their first win of the season in the first race today and Denmark, with Nicolai Sehstedt, took their second.

It was New Zealand’s third win after victories at Plymouth (United Kingdom) and Aarhus (Denmark), but it was a spectacular one, with almost 50 percent flying time in the nine minutes of the race, with blistering speed. 77.1 kmph.

The United States, led by Jimmy Spithill, could not keep up the pressure, finishing seventh overall and almost certainly missing out on the grand final in San Francisco in May.

The next meeting, the ninth round of the SailGP World Circuit, will be held in Sydney (Australia) on February 18 and 19.

Classification Sail GB Circuit-Singapore Grand Prix

Final Day 1 (Three Rounds Played) .1. New Zealand Peter Burling (NZL) 10 points .2. Denmark Nicolai Sehustedt (DIN) 9 .3. Australia Tom Slingsby (AUS) 8 .4. Switzerland Sébastian Schneiter (SUI) 7 .5. Great Britain Ben Ainslie (GBR) 6 .6. Canada Bill Robertson (NZL) 5 .7. United States Jimmy Spithill (AUS) 4 .8. France Quentin Delabier (FRA) 3 .9. Spain Jordi Samar (ESP) 2

General Classification SAIL GB Circuit 2022-2023 (Singapore Eighth Round Final) .1. Australia Tom Slingsby (AUS) 68 points .2. New Zealand Peter Burling (NZL) 59 .3. Great Britain Ben Ainslie (GBR) 54 .4. France Quentin Delabier (FRA) 53 .5. Denmark Nicolai Sehustedt (DIN) 51 .6. Canada Bill Robertson (NZL) 45 .7. USA Jimmy Spithill (AUS) 43 .8. Spain Jordi Samar (ESP) 24 .9. Switzerland Sebastian Schneiter (SUI) 23. EFE

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