Slingsby puts Aussies in SailGP lead; former F1 champ Vettel takes German boat for a spin #Slingsby #puts #Aussies #SailGP #lead #champ #Vettel #takes #German #boat #spin

Three-time defending SailGP champion Tom Slingsby and Team Australia navigated through a tight course and marginal conditions to take the lead of the Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix with finishes of first, second and fourth Saturday in fleet races on the Port of L.A.’s Outer Harbor.

Minutes after racing ended, four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel hopped aboard the Germany SailGP Team’s foiling 50-foot catamaran and took the wheel for some speed runs. Vettel is an investor in the new team that is skippered by two-time Olympic medalist Erik Heil.

“Obviously, yes I had the wheel and did some turns, but it takes a lot more than just having the wheel in your hand,” Vettel told The Associated Press. “Very impressive, and all without an engine, you know, to have that much power and speed building up.”

Team USA driver Jimmy Spithill speaks during an interview at the Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix, Friday, July 21, 2023, at the Port of the Los Angeles. SailGP will visit the city of Los Angeles for the first time for the Oracle Los Angeles Grand Prix on July 22-23. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill could use some good sailing mojo on home waters. The Americans struggled in Chicago in the opening regatta of SailGP’s fourth season and are looking to rebound when the global league makes its Southern California debut in the Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix this we

CORRECTS TO THURSDAY, JUNE 15, NOT FRIDAY, JUNE 16 - This handout provided by The Ocean Race shows the 11th Hour Racing team boat, left, being T-boned by Guyot environnement — Team Europe during the last leg of The Ocean Race around-the-world sailing competition near Aarhus, Denmark, Thursday, June 15, 2023. (The Ocean Race via AP)

The U.S.-based 11th Hour Racing Team has won the around-the-world Ocean Race. A jury awarded the hobbled sloop the equivalent of a second-place finish in a leg it couldn’t complete because of a crash that wasn’t its fault.

In a image from video provided by The Ocean Race, an orca moves along a rudder of the Team JAJO entry in The Ocean Race on Thursday, June 22, 2023, as the boat approached the Strait of Gibraltar. A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race, the latest encounter in what researchers say is a growing trend of sometimes-aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas. No one was injured. (The Ocean Race via AP)

A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar.

This handout provided by The Ocean Race shows the damaged 11th Hour Racing team boat as it returned to The Hague, Netherlands after being T-boned by Guyot environnement — Team Europe during the last leg of The Ocean Race around-the-world sailing competition near Aarhus, Denmark, Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Felix Diemer/The Ocean Race via AP)

The American sailboat in the Ocean Race had the hole in its hull repaired and set off for Italy in an attempt to rejoin the around-the-world competition before it is over.

Vettel, who retired from F1 last year, estimates the catamaran, powered by a wingsail, hit roughly 65 km/h, or about 40 mph. “On the water it’s a very different feeling. It feels a lot higher.” He said foiling “is a little bit like flying because everything goes silent and and then you just hear the wind picking up. It’s a sort of feeling you want more, more more.”

The Aussie crew, full of Olympic and America’s Cup veterans, has 26 points, two ahead of Sir Ben Ainslie of Emirates GBR and Nicolai Sehested of Rockwool Denmark in the fleet of 10 identical 50-foot foiling catamarans. Diego Botin has the Spanish in fourth with 22 points while Phil Robertson and Canada are fifth with 18.

Team USA’s Jimmy Spithill and New Zealand’s Peter Burling are tied with 14 points. Spithill is trying to rebound from a disappointing ninth place in the Season 4 opener at Chicago while Burling had a disappointing day after winning on Lake Michigan in mid-June. France, Germany and Switzerland rounded out the standings.

Heil said Vettel “really enjoyed it. That raised the atmosphere after the bad racing again.” The Germans finished last in the season opener.

“We’re really happy with today,” said Slingsby, an Olympic gold medalist and former America’s Cup champion. “The first race was as good a race as we’ve sailed all season. The second race we sailed well; a couple of little mistakes but they didn’t cost us too much. The third race a few more mistakes. I’m glad they capped at us three races because we were on a little downhill trajectory but we get to come back and reset tomorrow and try to get some wins.”

After two more fleet races Sunday, the top three boats advance to the podium race.

This is the Southern California debut of SailGP, the global league founded by tech baron Larry Ellison and five-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts of New Zealand. Coutts won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics, when sailing was held off nearby Long Beach.

Ainslie, the most decorated Olympic sailor with four golds and a silver, went 2-6-1 to put his team in great position to reach the podium race.

Ainslie had a great start in the first race but Slingsby reeled him in and took the lead midway through the race. In the third race, Ainslie nailed the start and the British catamaran was the first to rise up on its foils as the wind dropped.

“We had a massive lead but we were very conscious of getting stuck in a hole in the wind,” Ainslie said. He credited strategist Hannah Mills — the most decorated female Olympic sailor with two golds and a silver — with getting the boat in the right spot at the start. “Good team effort on a tight course like that,” Ainslie said.