SailGP Geneva sends Tom Slingsby and Australian crew back to top of leaders board

After a series of mixed results in recent regatta’s, the Australians made the three boat final in the first SailGP Geneva with their second place finishing enough to push them back up into the overall lead of the world sailing series.

Germany won the three-boat final from Australia with Switzerland third.

It was enough to push the Aussies back into the lead of the world sailing series ahead of the next event in Spain.

“I know second is a good result but it’s not what we wanted to do,’’ said Slingsby, who described the difficult conditions as like “street fighting”.

“The day I’m happy with second is probably the day I should stop racing.

“I’ll always be frustrated, especially when we’d built a nice lead but we need to be happy with the result and the points.”

Erratic conditions marred the lake racing with an incoming storm cell causing race delays and ultra light winds, sometimes reduced to a mere puff.

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“Conditions like today are some of the toughest you’ll face, drifting into finish lines, wind up and down, sometimes no wind at all,’’ Slingsby said.

The Australians lead on 76 points from Great Britain (75 points) and New Zealand (73 points).

Just two events remain before the $3m, winner-takes-all Grand Final race in Abu Dhabi.

Originally published as SailGP Geneva sends Tom Slingsby and Australian crew back to top of leaders board