SailGP cancels Rio de Janeiro event as issues found with select wingsails

The Australian team's wingsail collapsed in San Francisco. Photo / Simon Bruty, SailGP

SailGP will have to wait a bit longer before making its debut in Rio de Janeiro.

The global foiling league has cancelled its upcoming event in Brazil, scheduled for the first weekend of May, after the dramatic wingsail collapse suffered by the Australian team in San Francisco late last month.

The league made the call after identifying a defect in select wingsails across the fleet of F50 foiling catamarans and will instead work to address that in time for their return to New York in early June.

SailGP chief executive Sir Russell Coutts said the issue was with the bonding of the core material in the shear web of some of the wingsails, which could potentially compromise the structural integrity.

“While we know this news will be hugely disappointing, the safety of our athletes is our key priority,” he said.

“We want to thank our passionate racing fans in Brazil for their ongoing support of SailGP and the Brazilian team, alongside our partners in the country and across the globe. It’s a big job ahead, but we’re confident we can get all 12 national teams ready to race when SailGP returns to New York in June.”

The incident in San Francisco occurred when the Australians were approaching the starting line in the final fleet race of the event. They got close to the USA boat before quickly changing direction to avoid making contact. Just after the move, their wing collapsed, with fragments of it raining down on the Australian crew.

No one on board was injured, but the Australians, who were set to compete for the event title, could not continue.

It was a similar situation to one experienced by New Zealand’s Black Foils during season four when their wing collapsed after the opening day of racing at an event in Saint-Tropez, France. In that instance, the team missed the rest of the regatta and a SailGP event two weeks later in Taranto, Italy.

“It was incredibly scary,” Black Foils driver Peter Burling said of the Australians’ wing failure.

“It was a big bang. We were not too far to leeward [downwind] of it when it went. We’re incredibly glad everyone’s safe on board. It’ll be interesting to review and see what’s actually happened because it’s something we can’t be having.

“It’s happened three times now in the last two years, so... the league’s got to make them a little bit stronger.”

The third instance of a wing failing occurred before season five during a training session for the new Brazilian team in Bermuda, just under two months before the start of the season. Video of the failure indicated the team were driving the Canadian F50 at the time.

On that occasion, three of the Brazilian team members were on board with three other experienced SailGP athletes as they worked to get up to speed on the F50 before their rookie season on the circuit.

SailGP will look into potential options for rescheduling the event in Rio.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.