{"id":20309,"date":"2026-05-10T03:33:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/20309\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T03:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:33:28","slug":"spain-and-australia-set-pace-at-bermuda-sail-grand-prix-the-royal-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/20309\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain and Australia set pace at Bermuda Sail Grand Prix – The Royal Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

Created: May 09, 2026 08:24 PM<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Spain SailGP team got their Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix title defence off to a good start in the Great Sound on Saturday (Photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n

The Spain SailGP team again showed their liking for Bermuda waters on the opening day of the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix in the Great Sound on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Spaniards, who won in Bermuda the last time a SailGP event was held in Bermuda in 2024, were the most consistent team on the way to a 4-3-1-4 record in the four fleet races contested in big and shifty breeze. They finished the day tied at the top of the standings with current Rolex SailGP Championship leaders Australia.<\/p>\n

Los Gallos driver Diego Bot\u00edn, who won a gold medal in the 49er class at the Paris Olympics, was delighted with his team\u2019s performance as the one-design F50 foiling catamarans kept spectators on the edge of their seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing day today,\u201d Bot\u00edn told The Royal Gazette.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Australia SailGP team are joint leaders with defending champions Spain SailGP at the midway stage of the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix (Photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conditions were perfect to race these boats; it was super tight and we were a bit over range with the wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very windy for the 24-metre wing and that made the boat very hard to sail. If you put twelve boats on a tight course with the boats so hard to sail it is super stressful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was stressful on-board but we managed to pull off a good day and happy to be in contention for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spaniards came from behind to win the third race after trailing behind the Australians over the first three marks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The SailGP teams served up a real treat for spectators during the opening day of the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix in the Great Sound (Photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n

The decisive moment arrived near the end of the second downwind run with both teams battling for the favoured left bottom leeward gate.<\/p>\n

Los Gallos had the right of way and forced a split before laying the left gate to take the lead, which they clung to the rest of the way to seal victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to go to the left turn at the bottom so we decided to gybe early and in the long term it was a good move,\u201d Bot\u00edn said.<\/p>\n

Australia SailGP driver and CEO Tom Slingsby added: \u201cWe really needed to cross Spain coming to that bottom mark but they got a really good gust and accelerated and beat us to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

US SailGP team dominated the fleet on the way to victory in the first race of the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix in the Great Sound (Photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n

Bot\u00edn feels good about his team\u2019s chances of retaining their Bermuda title.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know if we do well we have our chances, so we are going to focus on getting ready for tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Australia will also feel good about their chances of securing a third title of the season after coming away with an 8-1-2-1 record to grab a share of the lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in good shape and the team is feeling good,\u201d Slingsby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a tough first race but were able to turn it around so happy to be in the hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Teams battling it on out on the racetrack during a thrilling opening day of the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix in the Great Sound (Photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n

The US team won the first race after leading the entire way and victory was especially sweet for three-times Bermuda Gold Cup winner Taylor Canfield as it was his first on the SailGP circuit here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was epic to get a first race win here in Bermuda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome to cross the finish line and see everyone on the shore and all the boats around.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis feels like a home away from home for me. Same kind of island vibe that I grew up in so it\u2019s great to be back here. We started the boat really well today and that makes the rest of the race a little bit easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we sailed the boat really well in race one out in front and then had a few tough moments in a few other races and left some points out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating to know that we have a little bit more and we gave a few points away, but overall happy with the day and I think we\u2019re in a great spot.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Spectators were treated to some thrilling close racing during the opening day of the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix in the Great Sound (Photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re super pleased and just a few small touch-ups tomorrow and we\u2019re right in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a disappointing day for Artemis SailGP team, who were unable to compete after encountering a technical issue on their boat during the pre-race warm up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a post that holds the forestay up from the front beam and where it connects to the boat, that end failed,\u201d team driver Nathan Outteridge explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d probably been sailing for about 25 seconds and then it failed, which was a bit disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outteridge and his fellow team-mates are now hoping to be on the starting line tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SailGP tech team will do everything they can tonight to get us on the water tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

DS Automobiles Team France also endured hardship when stand-in wing trimmer Glenn Ashby suffered an injury crossing the trampoline during the second race.<\/p>\n

The French were initially sidelined but returned in the fourth race after Australia SailGP team reserve athlete Tom Needham stepped in to fill the void in Ashby\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Created: May 09, 2026 08:24 PM Spain SailGP team got their Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix title…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10899,798,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-20309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-sailgp-bermuda","9":"tag-sailing","10":"tag-spain"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}