Aussies' final hopes end in dramatic wing collapse in San Fran

Tom Slingsby's Australia Team's hopes of making the Podium Final came crashing down on day two at the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix, as a catastrophic wing failure forced them out of contention, marking a devastating end for the Aussies in San Francisco.

The Australians had secured their seat in the Podium Final, sitting in equal first place on points to Spain, with one final fleet race to go before the finale on Super Sunday. The Australia F50 was in the start box of the seventh fleet race when the wing suddenly fell and collapsed around the crew.

Thankfully all athletes were accounted for and no injuries were reported, but the catastrophic damage meant the Australians were forced to retire from the race.

Still coming to terms with the incident, Australia Team Driver and CEO Tom Slingsby said, "It's heartbreaking, it's a very scary situation. We're all okay but when something like that happens, all you think about is if everyone is going to get through this. Fortunately we're all safe and that's the first priority."

Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank, Canada NorthStar SailGP Team and New Zealand SailGP Team sail on as the Australia SailGP Team main wing collapses at the start of the race on Race Day 2 of the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix - photo © Jason Ludlow for SailGP

With salvage under way, the SailGP Technical Team will now begin an in-depth analysis to determine what caused the incident.

"We've got to go look at the camera angles," Slingsby said. "We need to determine if it was a wing failure, or was there something else at play?"

Tom Slingsby, driver of Australia SailGP Team, on board after their main wing collapsed during the start of racing on Race Day 2 of the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix - photo © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

The Spain SailGP Team was crowned the champions of the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix in the Podium Final against NorthStar Canada (2nd) and France (3rd). Despite the dramatic wing collapse, the Australia Team's dominant performance across the weekend has pushed them into first place on the overall 2025 Season Leaderboard.

After establishing that "everyone was okay", Slingsby said his thoughts turned to the condition of the boat ahead of the next event in Brazil. "Obviously the thoughts go to our season and if we can get replacements in time and be at the next event," he said. However he said his biggest priority was "figuring out what happened."

The SailGP Technical Team will spend the coming days assessing the damage and the repairs required to the Flying Roo, with the goal of having the Australia Team racing at the next event, the Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix taking place on May 3-4 2025.