LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Canada won the fourth round of the SailGP season on Sunday, triumphing over New Zealand and Australia in a hard-fought, light-wind finals race in Los Angeles.
The win is the first for skipper Giles Scott since taking the helm of the Canadian boat at the start of the season and was redemption after narrowly missing out on first place in Sydney last month.
“It was an amazing performance from the team this weekend – and throughout the season. We had a good one in Sydney and to come here and win is fantastic for the team, I’m so proud of everyone,” said Scott.
Dylan Fletcher’s Britain started the day with a strong performance, winning race five, but finished sixth in race six before bouncing back to win race seven.
Although Britain were seemingly set for the final, Tom Slingsby’s Australia blocked their path as they won race six and made a late surge up the rankings in race seven, beating the British into the three-boat final by just a single point.
“I thought we had a couple of good starts and obviously we got the second one completely wrong in race two, but I’m really proud of my team,” Fletcher said.
A fiercely contested shootout in the final saw day one leaders New Zealand take the advantage as Canada fell behind and Australia struggled to maintain their foils in the early stages.
However, despite lighter winds and a reduced crew of four, Canada’s precise boat handling maintained a dominant performance, capitalising on mishaps on both the New Zealand and Australian boats in the latter stages.
Britain remain on top of the season standings with Australia and New Zealand following. Defending champions Spain are fourth, while Canada move up to fifth in the championship.
The SailGP series continues with its fifth stop in San Francisco on March 22 and 23.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City and Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
