Spithill to steer Team Australia’s ‘Flying Roo’ in Dubai while Slingsby is on paternity leave

By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Former Team USA CEO and skipper Jimmy Spithill will take the wheel of Team Australia’s “Flying Roo” foiling catamaran in SailGP’s Dubai regatta on Dec. 9-10 while friend and countryman Tom Slingsby is on paternity leave.

Slingsby’s wife, Helena, is expecting the couple’s first child.

Spithill, a two-time America’s Cup champion, is available to fill in for Slingsby after leaving Team USA prior to its sale to a private American group on Wednesday. Spithill will compete for his native Australia for the first time since 2001.

“Jimmy is a legend of our sport. He’s a natural leader who brings the perfect blend of race smarts, aggression and composure out on the water,” Slingsby said.

Slingsby and his crew full of America’s Cup and Olympic veterans have dominated tech billionaire Larry Ellison’s global league by claiming the first three season championships and the winner-take-all $1 million prize. Despite failing to win a regatta so far in Season 4, the Aussies sit atop the leaderboard with a seven-point lead over ROCKWOOL Denmark, with Team USA, now skippered by Taylor Canfield, another four points back in third. This season’s winner-take-all championship prize has been raised to $2 million.

Slingsby skippered the Aussies to a stunning comeback victory in Dubai last season, coming from eighth in the nine-boat field going into the final three fleet races to make it into the podium race.

“Despite a shaky start in Dubai in Season 3, we were able to achieve some pretty remarkable things there with our comeback victory, and I’m really keen to see what Jimmy can deliver using his previous experience racing in SailGP with the Aussies next weekend,” Slingsby said.

Slingsby and Spithill were crewmates with Ellison’s Oracle Team USA in the 2013 America’s Cup, when they helped lead an epic comeback from 8-1 down at match point to win eight straight races against Emirates Team New Zealand.

“It’s an honor to step in for a good mate and drive for Australia,” Spithill said. “This team has been the absolute benchmark since SailGP started. I have personally raced and worked with a lot of the team and I’m really looking forward to learning and racing with the most consistent squad in SailGP.

“When Tom approached me I was stoked but I did jokingly tell him my one condition, which is that he needs to name his first child Jimmy,” Spithill said.

Team Australia’s catamaran is nicknamed the “Flying Roo” for the large yellow kangaroo on the wingsail.

Now 44, Spithill first gained notice as the 19-year-old skipper of an underfunded Australian team in the 1999-2000 America’s Cup. In 2010, he became the youngest skipper, at age 30, to win the America’s Cup in the first of his two victories with Oracle Team USA. He was named Rolex World Sailor of the Year in 2014. He plans to start an Italian SailGP team that will debut in Season 5.

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Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson