On Saturday, Spain led the first day of the SailGP sixth round. Diego Botin and his team were well-positioned to win consecutive races.

Spain, the defending series champions, won the San Francisco race in March. They made it look effortless despite the strong tides and light winds as they claimed the first victory of the day.

They sailed ahead of the fleet at the first mark and held a lead of 14 seconds over New Zealand, who finished second.

Spain had a great start to the race, but a turbulent second lap saw them drop from 12th place at the starting line, to finish fourth.

The team started the race at the rear once again, but they moved up to the third place and led the overnight standings with 25 points on the second day of the event.

Spain, led in the race by Olympic champion Botin, is five points ahead of Denmark, second, and France, third.

In the second race, Australia and Brazil went head-to-head before Tom Slingsby, whose team is now known as the BONDS flying Roos, after the announcement of new celebrity co owners Hugh Jackman, and Ryan Reynolds, on Thursday, won.

New Zealand, the winners of New York's third race last year, finished fourth on the day after finishing 11th in the second.

Due to a forecast of a storm later that day, the race started two and half hours earlier than initially scheduled.

After a short hiatus, the global racing championship has returned to action following a defect in the wingsail that forced May's Rio race to be cancelled. (Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk)

(source: Reuters)