SailGP: USA snatches win in Valencia
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ 6 Sep 14:07 UTC
USA wins Closing – Day 2 – Spain Sail Grand Prix – Valencia – September 6, 2026 © Benjamin Rosewall/SailGP
Mild winds held the trump card on the Closing day of racing in Spain Sail Grand Prix, Valencia.
The beginning of racing was delayed by 25 minutes in what ought to have been two extra qualifying races, as race managers waited for the breeze to settle and freshen. It did neither, peaking at 7.5kts, and sometimes much less, leading to every Group solely crusing one race of simply 4 legs, together with the dash off the beginning and a brief attain to the end.
The shortened sequence meant that fancied groups who had bought themselves buried within the mid-range or worse on the in a single day leaderboard had little probability to recuperate and make the Closing.
As soon as once more, mild winds and marginal foiling situations performed into the arms of the match racers, with the 2 prime practitioners, Phil Robertson (Pink Bull Italy) and Taylor Canfield (SailGP USA), topping their Group scores, and appeared set to go head-to-head within the Closing.
Nonetheless, Robertson was too early for the beginning of the Closing and needed to drop again to finish his penalty.
He fought again to make contact with the 2 leaders, Tom Slingsby (Bonds Flying Roos) and Taylor Canfield (USA), who swapped the lead going up the fourth leg of the Closing. The ultimate play got here simply in need of the highest mark as Canfield returned Slingsby’s play to the identical place on the third leg.
This time it was Canfield who got here in foiling on starboard tack, picked his second to tack for the mark, simply forward of Slingsby on port and made the ultimate mark with simply sufficient lead to have the ability to defend on the attain to the end line, with the Australian crew crossing 11 seconds after the USA.
The Bonds Flying Roos completed simply 5 seconds forward of a fast-finishing Italian crew.
Group Racing Factors after Day 2 and 4 races accomplished:
Group A: USA 15pts; DEN 14pts; ESP 14pts; GER 7pts; CAN 5pts; FRA 5pts
Group B: ITA 15pts; AUS 12pts; GBR 11pts; SUI 8pts; SWE 6 pts; NZL 5pts; BRA 3pts
Closing: USA 10pts; AUS 9pts; ITA 8pts; DEN 7pts; ESP 6pts; GBR 5pts; SUI 4pts; GER 3pts; SWE 2pts; CAN 1pt; NZL0pts; FRA 0pts; BRA 0pts
