Australia feels "a little hard done by" after a mechanical issue helped Spain wage a stunning upset in the SailGP grand final on San Francisco Bay and net a $3 million pay day.
Sunday's (Monday AEST) boilover snaps a streak of three consecutive grand final wins for Tom Slingsy’s boat that had stretched back to the inception of the high-speed sailing league in 2019.
The Aussies had endured an inconsistent fourth season, though came into the winner-take-all decider against Spain and ladder-leading New Zealand on the back of a dominant regatta across the weekend.
In the grand final, underdogs Spain shook off a disappointing start to the event and flew out of the gate in windy conditions, leading at the first mark.
Australia kept in the hunt, splitting the course on the third leg and beginning to close a gap that had opened up to 100 metres.
Slingsy’s F50 catamaran took the lead shortly thereafter but disaster struck when a board jumped off its lock as the boat tacked near the final mark.
The catamaran dipped into the water, losing its speed as Spain limped home with a broken rudder sustained on the final leg.
Diego Botin's team were followed eventually by Australia in second place, with the Kiwis in third.
"(The board issue) didn't happen all day, it didn't happen all week, it's probably happened once in the last year," Slingsby told AAP.
"We would've done a thousand tacks and today it happened on the final beat of a $US2 million race. That's life. What do you do?
"Right when we had the board lock failure, we were finally going to be clear in clear air. It was going to be hard to stop us.
"We're a little hard done by but that's life. I'm not going to cry over spilt milk."
Spain's win caps a remarkable day in sport for the country, with countryman Carlos Alcaraz winning the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, Sergio Garcia triumphing in the LIV Golf Andalucia and their men's soccer team winning the Euro 2024 final in Germany over England all in the space of a few hours.
It also writes the final chapter in a rags-to-riches story for Spain, who placed last in the third season of SailGP.
"I cannot describe the feeling now, such a big pump of adrenaline. I'm trying to slow it down a little bit," Botin said.
"We were lucky because we broke a rudder or something on the last downwind but we managed to stay in front. It's amazing."
The dominant force in season four, New Zealand struggled with their starts all weekend in San Francisco and it was a similar story in the final, where they finished third.
Peter Burling’s boat never looked a serious chance of finishing the grand final on top.
After struggling in heavy conditions across the five fleet races, Spain only qualified for the grand final after France dropped from contention earlier in the day.
The stars of day one, France watched their hopes of a big pay day evaporate after receiving eight penalty points for colliding with Denmark in the penultimate fleet race.
They withdrew from the final fleet race on Sunday after being unable to repair their damaged rudder in time.
"It's pretty tough when you're that close to the grand final," French driver Quentin Delapierre told AAP.
"It's the worst scenario ever, it's probably the worst moment in my sailing career."
France’s first penalty of the season and their subsequent scratching paved the way for Spain to make it to the final, where they hoisted the trophy in thrilling circumstances.
