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Slingsby steers Aussie boat to SailGP lead

Theo KatsarosAAP
Australia won the SailGP event in Cowes, Isle of Wight, and broke the 50-knot barrier as well.
Camera IconAustralia won the SailGP event in Cowes, Isle of Wight, and broke the 50-knot barrier as well.

Tom Slingsby skippered Team Australia to three dominant race victories in the SailGP regatta at Cowes, England, and back into the overall lead of the inaugural series on a wild, windy day on the Solent.

Slingsby and his experienced crew kept their foiling, 15-metre catamaran in control and became the first crew to break the 50-knot (92.6km/h) speed barrier in sail racing.

"The conditions were where it sort of favoured experience," Slingsby said.

"I think if it was five knots lighter and the waves were smaller, we'd have had a harder time. But with more wind and survival kind of conditions pushed together, experience paid off."

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Rome Kirby's Team USA craft capsized just seconds into the first race of the penultimate round but regrouped and finished fourth and fifth in races two and three to take over third place overall.

The British team was less fortunate in the south coast waters as its foiling catamaran suffered damage late in the first race and missed the next two races, dropping into fourth overall in the six-boat fleet.

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Slingsby, Olympic Laser class gold medallist at London 2012 and a former America's Cup champion, leads Nathan Outteridge's Team Japan 169pts to 165, with the United States third on 123 points.

The Australians hit a SailGP-record 50 knots as they crossed the finish line of race one.

Team Japan, which came into Cowes with a one-point lead over the Aussies, had finishes of second, third and third on Sunday.

Saturday's two races were cancelled due to gale force winds, so the compacted schedule included three fleet races with no match-race final between the top two scoring teams.

Slingsby had beaten Outteridge in the match race finals at the first two SailGP regattas, in Sydney and San Francisco, before Outteridge dominated the New York regatta, including a win against the Aussies in the match race final.

"In all honesty, I didn't feel like we sailed immaculately," Slingsby said.

"I felt like we were getting through the conditions and surviving. We were having issues and dealing with them.

"We dealt with it better than the other teams and came out victorious."

The final season's regatta takes place on September 20-22 in Marseille, France, and will culminate with a $US 1 million winner-take-all match race between the top two teams.

"This doesn't mean anything. We've still got to win the final race of the series, but it's good for our confidence," Slingsby said.

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