There was drama on the water before racing even got underway, with the French team forced to miss the opening day of the regatta due to a broken wingsail suffered during warm-ups. <\/p>\n
It will be a frustraing turn of events for both the team and the league, who will now investigate the cause of the damage. SailGP worked to address issues with the fleet\u2019s wings earlier in the season after Australia had theirs collapse in San Francisco. That saw the scheduled event in Rio de Janeiro in May cancelled as the league opted to take the time to strengthen one of the key components of the wings across the fleet. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s scary what happened to France,\u201d Burling said after the day\u2019s racing. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe really need to stop these things happening, so hopefully there\u2019s a reason for that and a way of moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The issue for France looked like a different sort to that of Australia earlier this season, however, with the top of the sail tearing rather than the entire thing collapsing. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll athletes onboard are safe and accounted for. We are investigating the issue and will share more information as it becomes available,\u201d SailGP said in a statement. <\/p>\n
The French SailGP team missed the opening day in Great Britain due to a damaged wingsail. Photo \/ SailGP<\/p>\n
On a day when passing lanes were hard to come by and teams had a few obstacles to avoid on the water, starting races at the right end of the fleet was all the more critical. <\/p>\n
While they have had their issues there at times this season, the Black Foils were strong starters in all but the last race of the day and were able to capitalise. <\/p>\n
It was their pace off the line that set them up for race one after they were the widest of the teams on the course heading to the first gate. They were able to get around that in third place and challenged Denmark for second throughout the contest. <\/p>\n
It took until the penultimate leg before they were able to get around the Danish, but they did so and made the move stick to finish behind Great Britain for second. <\/p>\n