SailGP: Tom Slingsby leads Australia to Sail Grand Prix victory in Plymouth

Tom Slingsby led his team to their first Sail Grand Prix victory of Season 2 (Image credit: Thomas Lovelock)

Tom Slingsby and the Australia SailGP team beat their counterparts from USA and France to take their first event win of Season 2.

The team's victory on British waters marked an excellent comeback after finishing last at the second event of the season in Italy, back in early June.

Following their loss in Taranto, helmsman Slingsby said that he "expected more" from himself and his team, and they set about showing exactly what they were made of from the first race in Plymouth.

On home waters, Great Britain's team - led by Paul Goodison for the last time before Sir Ben Ainslie returns for the next event in Denmark - finished with a race victory in the fifth contest on day two, but didn't have the consistency required to make the winner-takes-all final.

Instead, Jimmy Spithill's USA team and Billy Besson's France duelled with Australia in a topsy-turvy deciding contest, which around 8,000 fans enjoyed watching from the shoreline in the blissful British sunshine.

The Australian team celebrating their victory on the water (Image Credit: Bob Martin for SailGP)

In the winner-takes-all final, Spithill and the USA were first to hit the front. They timed their move out of the starting blocks perfectly and combined an excellent line between their two competitors with accelerating boat speed.

However, by mark one it was Australia who had gained the advantage before Slingsby and his crew produced what could have been a final-ending mistake.

After losing their rudders, and with a touch of panic in their voices on the radio, they allowed both the USA and France to move back ahead of them.

However, as the laps continued, the defending champions restored their composure and navigated the course excellently.

With two legs to go the three-boat fleet were all within 100 metres of each other, and then France and Australia took advantage of the USA losing a spot of boat speed out on of the left-hand side of the course.

When it became a two-horse race, the final victory rested on one key manoeuvre at the end of leg six and on board, Slingsby was well-aware of the presence of the French boat.

"It was very tight," the Australian helmsman said. "The French nailed that layline and we knew it was going to be a tricky position.

"We thought that we could stick the jibe but you never know how quickly they're coming at you; if they're coming with a big speed differential then they can actually roll you or hook you. But, we just had enough room, nailed a perfect jibe and we're ecstatic.

"It's a good question to ask, what the key [to bouncing back] was," Slingsby continued.

"I think it was really being candid with ourselves. It's easy just to say that we had a bad event in Italy, but we really decided that we had to look at ourselves. We are weaker in lighter airs but we addressed it and came back stronger."

Season 2 of SailGP now moves to Denmark, where the fourth event of the year will take place on August 20 and 21, and every race day will be live on Sky Sports.