Australia's boat suffered a catastrophic wingsail collapse during the SailGP event on San Francisco Bay, leaving the crew unscathed but deeply shaken. As the team made their way to the start line for the seventh fleet race, disaster struck. This unexpected occurrence suddenly stopped their ability to even compete in the competition. Route of the accident An investigation has been initiated to find out if the collapse was a result of operator error or mechanical failure.
The collapse was “a very scary situation,” an emotional Tom Slingsby said after the event. The center section of the main wing collapsed and sank to the seabed. This disaster killed Australia’s chances of being able to try to compete in the final three-way race. Even despite this regretful setback, Australia had already locked in their spot atop the overall championship standings.
"It's a bit of shock, obviously. A very scary situation," said Tom Slingsby.
The incident occurred when Australia was approaching Italy’s vessel on their way to the start line. Florian Trittel of the Spanish team expressed his sympathy for the Australian crew. Even Donaldson admits how huge a failure the wingsail collapse was.
"We would like to send huge energy from the Spanish team to the Aussie team, we could hear it through our comms even though we had noise-cancelling on, so it must have been a massive one and seeing that is never nice," remarked Florian Trittel.
As a consequence of Australia dropping out, France took their place and became their major competitor in the race for the podium. Spain’s victory over Canada and France made Spain the eventual winners, completing this remarkable upset. The incident involving Australia’s team has raised serious questions about safety protocols and what welcome and enforced changes can be made going forward.
"Did we make an error, or did the boat fail?" pondered Tom Slingsby, as he considered the possible causes behind the collapse.