Roo York State of Mind

Jean Hudson reports on Australia’s Flying Roos Completing Hat Trick in Chaotic New York SailGP

The BONDS Flying Roos have done it again. They cemented their dominance of the 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship, in a dramatic winner-takes-all final to win the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix and claim their third consecutive SailGP event victory.

The win was a testament to the resilience and tactical brilliance of skipper Tom Slingsby’s crew, who overcame one of the most hostile race environments in SailGP to extend their stranglehold on the season standings.

New York has long been regarded as the most treacherous venue on the SailGP calendar, and this year was no exception. The racecourse sits in the shadow of Manhattan’s skyscrapers, where breeze ricochets unpredictably off buildings while strong currents and confined boundaries turn every race into a high-speed street fight.

One-minute, teams can be flying; the next they can fall off the foils entirely after hitting a patch of disturbed air. The HudsonRiver’s usual steady sea breezes were absent this weekend — replaced by highly turbulent offshore winds travelling across Manhattan’s skyscrapers to create an unstable environment of dramatic puffs and sudden lulls. The strong Hudson River current added a further layer of complexity that tested even the most experienced crews. For the flight controllers in particular, the New York SailGP course has earned the nickname “the final boss.”

Those conditions proved overwhelming on Saturday. The fresh northerly breeze, funnelling across Manhattan’s skyline and onto the Hudson, created a turbulent racecourse packed with sudden shifts, heavy spray and brutal pressure changes. Gusts of more than 40 km/h battered the Manhattan racecourse, with extreme conditions limiting pre-race craning operations and preventing the full fleet from launching.

The Flying Roos were ruled out before the start after suffering a major nose-dive caused by an on-board hydraulic issue, and SailGP’s Race Committee ultimately voided all Saturday results, effectively making the event a one-day contest.

Sunday’s racing produced one of the most dramatic moments of the SailGP season, when a major three-boat collision threatened to reshape the entire final lineup. It looked like a demolition derby! The collision happened in the final seconds before the Race 3 gun. Red Bull Italy came back to the line too early and rotated hard to stay behind it. The U.S. team, approaching fast from below, could not avoid the chaos that unfolded, with multiple boats tangling in a high-speed pile-up. The carnage proved a remarkable stroke of fortune for NorthStar Canada, who survived to reach the New York final. The event final ultimately came down to NorthStar Canada, Emirates GBR, and the BONDS Flying Roos — one race, three boats on the Hudson, with the rest of the fleet watching from the dock.

In the final itself, the Flying Roos led at the opening mark before Emirates GBR moved ahead midway through the race. A favourable shift after a tactical split later allowed Slingsby’s crew to reclaim the lead and edge the British boat in a finish that went down to the final metres. Slingsby was candid about how gruelling the conditions had been. “We were on the back foot all day. It felt like we were just trying to claw our way back into the races,” he said. “That last race was exciting. We ended up getting away with it. It was a close one right to the wire there with the British team.”

The victory was Australia’s fourth from six events this season and extended Tom Slingsby’s lead in the standings to 55 points, 11 ahead of Emirates GBR. Spain’s Los Gallos, who arrived in New York seeking a fifth straight podium finish, slipped to fourth on 34 points after a frustrating day. With a hat trick of wins and the title fight firmly in their grasp, the Flying Roos look virtually unstoppable as the 2026 season heads into its second half.

Next race is in Halifax, Canada on June 20-21, 2026. Watch this space.

*Story by Jean Hudson, images courtesy SailGP. Jean is our Shipping and Sailing Correspondent and also a regular feature writer, reviewer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

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