SailGP drivers react to dramatic Portsmouth opener featuring six different winners

Yeah, it was awesome to get the race win. We really needed it after two sort of tougher races. Yeah, just really struggling to get off the starts in those first two and luckily sort of we're in the mix at mark one in that last race and managed to come through to take the win which was great. Yeah, I think we certainly felt as though we weren't delivering and felt a lot of pressure in that last one to come out firing so we needed it and it was good to deliver but we need a lot of hard work tomorrow to make sure we get into that final. Yeah, it was awesome day today. Good sunshine, good breeze and yeah, we had a really nice warm-up which gave us the confidence to push the boat hard in the racing and I think in condition like that it really does make a big difference to be able to confidently push the boat hard. Yeah, although we had more room around the racetrack it didn't really feel like you could calm down because it was pretty hectic out there. Just having really good breeze and a lot of obstacles in the course. Really fun racing. Yeah, I mean the group racing is just a bit different. A few less boats in the start line. I think today proved it was still pretty hard to pass at times but yeah, it was nice to get off the line in that last one and take a win. Yeah, a solid day. A very challenging day. Starting with the commute out to the racetrack is pretty full on but yeah, typical Portsmouth, sea breeze day, big breeze, a lot of action, a lot of obstacles in the racetrack but yeah, for us it was good. Definitely feels like we left a lot out there and we had some issues with the boat today which is frustrating, especially in our last start, not having any race software, time to start, time to kill, nothing. Yeah, we were on the back foot but to battle back into races was great. We think we sailed the boat quite well but we're going to do due diligence tonight and make sure we're better tomorrow. Yeah, we sailed well today. We sailed really well. We nearly had an exceptional day but we still had a very good one. So yeah, we're stoked with that. Two really solid races and the middle one was looking equally as solid up until the very last moment on that final downwind where we slipped back to fifth through missing the board lock on one of our flip-flops but yeah, that happens. We're in a good spot, second overall in our group and just have to see how tomorrow goes but yeah, we're happy. Yeah, it's been a while since we've been on the 18 meter wing. That was nice. The boats felt like they were ripping around and yeah, the fleet felt like it took a big jump up. We just couldn't find overtaking lanes and historically in those sorts of conditions we're usually pretty good at picking our way through but it just felt like everyone was sailing a really high level. Now we're sailing in groups which is super fun to do so the top two will go on to the final race tomorrow. So that's everything we're aiming for. We're charging our brains. Yeah, a wonderful day of regattas. We had some nice conditions, pretty muscled. And we did pretty well. We made some good progress in those conditions. The crew really did a great job to allow me to regatta as I wanted. Then we missed a little bit more on the starts. We had some good starts but we missed half a second to really be in the lead. So we're going to try to improve that tomorrow to win races and make sure we get a place in the final. Well, we've had two really good races, the first two of the day. And then the third one got a bit complicated for us. We arrived late to know that the strongman was closer to the edge of the field and we couldn't get past the right side of the strongman. We tried, but it didn't go well and then we had a penalty in Brazil that made it difficult for us to come back and get points in that third race. But the feelings were really good and there's still a lot to do tomorrow. Today was a good day for us. We did some good things around the regatta field. A good first regatta, a second regatta with penalties. It's a shame because they were really close to the edge, like penalties, but what's right is right. We tried to improve from there. Yes, you're absolutely right. We can't really keep our position if we fall through the field. We know that ourselves, but we do the best we can. In the last two races, I'm right, we're 2th at the bottom. In the last two races, in both races, we end up 5th and 6th. It's just details for us. We're not quite smooth enough in our manoeuvres, our communication and what's ahead of us, so we end up being a bit surprised sometimes in terms of how we should react to a hard manoeuvre or a situation, and then we just end up losing it every time and putting the GPS so close. So if you don't miss a cross where you don't go in front of a boat, you should go in front, then you end up losing two or three boats. And that's what happens to us many times, I would say right now. Our first day here in Portsmouth was rough. We actually had a few good starts, but didn't really find the pace. It was relatively difficult for us to get out of the boat, because we didn't really notice the speed. We also had a situation in the last race where we almost crashed. That was really special, but we ended the race well. But there's still a lot to analyse, and then tomorrow we're back on track. Tonight we're going to talk a lot about the manoeuvres and accelerations. I think we were well behind on the course, but I think we also had some static errors, so a bit of everything.