'Huge' win for Slingsby's Australia in Sydney SailGP

Tom Slingsby has ranked Australia’s first overall win of the SailGP season among his finest moments in the league following a pulsating final to the home regatta on Sydney Harbour.

Australia overcame a slow start to hold off second-placed Denmark and third-placed New Zealand in the winner-take-all final to the Sydney SailGP on Sunday.

The triumph pushes the three-time reigning champions further ahead atop the overall leaderboard and exorcises any demons remaining from last month’s season-worst performance in Abu Dhabi.

“That was huge for us,” Slingsby told AAP after Australia won this season’s eighth event.

“This is right up there in terms of our (best) SailGP moments.

“The atmosphere on Shark Island after that finish, when we went and did the prize-giving, we had a thousand people singing the national anthem.

“It was an amazing moment, I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”

Australia have now accumulated 66 points, eight more than the second-placed Kiwis with five events remaining before the season finale in San Francisco this July.

Australia’s SailGP team pass Genesis Island crowded with spectators on Sydney Harbour. (HANDOUT/SAILGP)

After impressing across the five fleet races, Australia and the in-form Kiwis started the three-boat final too early so needed to drop behind Denmark as a penalty.

The Australians recovered better and soon became looked in a tight tussle with the Danish, who had been the most consistent performers across the weekend.

But the Scandinavians sailed too close to a buoy near the fifth mark and fell some 100 metres behind Australia.

“We were just so focused on the other boats in the line-up at the start that I forgot to look out for that little yellow marker,” Danish driver Nicolai Sehested told AAP.

“That was my mistake.”

Chasing their first win at any SailGP event, Denmark threatened a late comeback to set up a tense finish.

“I was actually shocked that they kept gaining on us, because generally once we get ahead of a team, we continue to extend,” Slingsby said.

“It was an amazing fightback by the Danish.”

But the Australians could not be chased down.

Team Australia tear up the SailGP course on day two of competition in Sydney. (HANDOUT/SAILGP)

Australia had come into the second day of the Sydney SailGP sharing first place on the event leaderboard with Denmark.

But slow starts in the final two fleet races of the day threatened Australia’s spot in Sunday’s final.

“(The starts) were a bit of a black mark on the record but we sailed so well from after the start, to the finish,” Slingsby said.

Fortunately for Slingsby, Germany and Switzerland started the final fleet race too early and had to drop back, helping Australia scrape into the event final despite their eighth-placed finish.

Australia were sluggish out of the gate in Sunday’s other fleet race as well, eventually finishing in fifth place.

After coming within inches of capsizing on day one, Germany parlayed a fast start into their first SailGP win in that fourth fleet race of the weekend.

It was too little too late for defending champions France, who blitzed the fifth fleet race but rued a ninth-placed finish in the fourth that thwarted any chance of making the final.

Canada returned on Sunday after hydraulic issues forced them to miss two of Saturday’s three fleet races but had too much ground to make up and finished the event in last place.