SailGP have been forced to call off the second day of their event in Sydney, after a “major weather event” resulted in significant damage to the fleet’s wing sails and at least one boat.

An assessment of the damage is currently underway, but the league indicated in a statement that future events may be delayed if significant repairs are needed.

Only the New Zealand leg, scheduled for March 18-19, sits between this weekend’s regatta in Sydney and the grand final in San Francisco in May.

“As far as we know, no one was seriously injured during the incident. As a result of the damage, SailGP has had to cancel racing for the second day of the Sydney event,” the statement read.

 “A full assessment of the damage is underway but it is likely some of the future SailGP events may also need to be delayed.

“Further information will be released as it becomes available.”

The weather event happened at the tech site after the opening day’s racing on Saturday, bringing an end to a rather hectic day on the water.

The opening race of the day saw two teams struggle with mechanical issues - including the New Zealand team who were forced to retire midway through as their starboard board wasn’t responding - while Great Britain grinder Matt Gotrel fell overboard while attempting to switch sides during a manoeuvre. A dangerous situation - particularly given the pace the boats were racing in the gusty conditions - the British team were able to confirm Gotrel was OK after the incident.

Sailing on a different boat after their F50 catamaran was struck by lightning in Singapore last month and required repairs, the New Zealand team had a mixed day on the water, with the early retirement putting them on the back foot immediately.

It was a much cleaner second race for the Kiwis. Starting in the middle of the fleet, they seemed to have had their previous issues under control and edged ahead of some of their rivals to sit in a clear third place – behind France and the USA who shot out to the front and battled for the top two placings. Again, it was France getting across the line first.

While the Kiwis were able to claim third, they would have been wanting a high finish in the final race of the day as they were already counting a last place from race one.

Picking up a boundary penalty early in the race didn’t do them any favours, but after giving up the required 20m to the nearest team they were able to recover well.

Again, they were able to come through the fleet - a facet of their performances that left a lot to be desired in their debut campaign last season - and capitalised on the mistakes of others to finish in fourth place for the final race.

France ended up with the perfect record for the day, winning all three races.