Australia won two out of four races on Saturday, the first day of SailGP's third round. Skipper Tom Slingsby was a master of starting and gave the Australian team the victory.

Three-time champions Australia, who won the series' second round in Auckland, last month, came third in the first race, and Britain took the lead in the second, before two resounding victories.

Slingsby said, "I'm not sure what's happening with our start but it all seems to be gelling."

"You'll need some luck, and we have had a little luck." The right gaps opened up just at the right moment. It's not uncommon for things to just click. We're currently in a purple patch. We hope to continue this."

After 5-1-3-3 race results the Australians were five points ahead of Britain. Switzerland, which won the opening race on the day, was two points behind.

France, which was unable to compete in the first two events of the season due to boat issues, returned to the fleet with a bang and finished the day in fourth place in the standings.

Quentin Delapierre, the helmsman said: "It was fantastic."

"Coming back in Sydney in good shape...I believe we have made a step forward."

Peter Burling’s New Zealand boat that won the first leg of the season in Dubai continued to struggle and will enter day two in 8th place, a good 30 points behind Australia.

France returned to compete, but hopes of a 12-strong record fleet were dashed.

The United States boat capsized on Friday while being towed to training, causing extensive damages to the catamaran. This forced the team to withdraw from the race weekend.

One of the many penalties given out Friday because of incidents during training was eight points docked from their season.

The most severely penalised team was Germany, which lost 20 points off its season score for 2025 and 32 points on the Sydney event. They were still 21 points behind at the end day one.

(source: Reuters)