SailGP

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The F50s of the Japan and United States SailGP teams foiling in New York Harbour at the New York Sail Grand Prix - part of SailGP's inaugural 2019 season.

SailGP is an international sailing competition using high performance F50 foiling catamarans, where teams compete across a season of multiple grands prix around the world.[1] Its reigning champions are Tom Slingsby's Australia SailGP team, who won the inaugural 2019 SailGP championship.[2]

Background[]

The competition was founded by Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and champion yachtsman Russell Coutts.[3] Their aim was to establish a commercially viable global race series with a large audience. This had been unsuccessfully attempted in the past with series such as the Extreme Sailing Series. The SailGP format uses fast foiling catamarans in a variety of spectacular locations.[4] Teams are currently owned by the competition with the intention of becoming privately owned.[5]

Racing[]

Australian, Chinese and British SailGP teams.

The F50 boats used in the competition are one-design boats maintained and operated by SailGP. Technical information is also shared between teams, which includes large amounts of data collected using Oracle systems. This is intended to prevent secret "arms races" that the organizers believe dominate the America's Cup, and to ensure that the outcomes of races are determined by skill and ability, and not technology.[6][7][8]

Each SailGP event consists of two days of competitive racing. The first day of racing consists of three fleet races, while the second day consists of two fleet races and a match race final.[9] In the 2019 SailGP championship, the two highest-ranking teams in the event leaderboard qualified for the match race final of that event; in the 2021-22 SailGP championship, the three highest-ranking teams in the event leaderboard qualified for the match race final.[10]

The final race of the season is a match race between the two highest scoring crews over the season, with the winner earning a US$1 million prize.[11][12] The circuit has been funded for 5 years to allow the competition to become self sustaining. This would see it run until at least 2023.[7]

Scoring[]

Scoring at events[]

Fleet races in each event are scored with the winning team scoring ten points, the second-placed team scoring nine points, and so on. The three highest-ranking teams in the event leaderboard qualify for the match race final of that event.[10]

Scoring in the championship[]

The winner of the match race final is awarded ten points in the championship leaderboard, with second and third place being awarded nine and eight points respectively. Teams who did not qualify for the match race final are awarded points corresponding to their rankings in the event leaderboard.[10]

Penalties[]

After the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix, additional penalty rules were put in place to discourage collisions on the race course. Boats that collide during an event accumulate contact and damage points, which result in deductions from the season championship.[13]

Seasons[]

2019 season[]

Main article: 2019 SailGP championship

The inaugural competition was in 2019 with six teams competing from Australia, China, France, Great Britain, Japan and the United States of America. The competition consisted of a circuit of five race meets in Sydney,[14] San Francisco,[15] New York,[16] Cowes[17] and Marseille France. The Australian team, skippered by Tom Slingsby won the competition and the prize in a final match race against the Japanese team skippered by Nathan Outteridge.[18]

Over the first season SailGP attracted over 133,000 live spectators and had a television audience of 1.8 billion. The five races had a claimed economic impact of US$115 million on their host cities.[19][20][21]

2021–22 season[]

Main article: 2021–22 SailGP championship

The second season of SailGP introduced two new teams to the sport, with Spain replacing the Chinese team[22] and Denmark joining on as the 7th team.[23] The British team changed as well, signing four-time Olympic Gold medalist and America's Cup skipper Ben Ainslie. The revamped team, introduced members of the original British team and the America's Cup team Ineos Team UK.[24]

This season was scheduled to visit the same venues of the first season but with Marseille swapped out for Copenhagen for the final venue, which coincided with the arrival of the new Danish team.[25] The first round of the season began in Sydney, Australia. On the first day, Ben Ainslie and his British team won the first three races.[26] On the second day of racing, Great Britain won a further race in the fleet races, with Australia taking the final fleet race. In the championship race, Great Britain beat the Australian team, winning them their first event title.[27]

The second round of the 2020 SailGP race was due to be held in San Francisco, in May 2020,[28] however SailGP suspended its season until the end of June 2020. SailGP later delayed the second season until 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with points from the Sydney race removed from the championship.[29]

The 2021-22 SailGP championship saw the arrival of the New Zealand SailGP team, skippered by two-time America's Cup winner and 49er gold medallist Peter Burling.[30] The season commenced in April 2021 with the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix, which was won by Ben Ainslie's Great Britain SailGP team.[31] Future venues include Taranto, Plymouth, Aarhus, Saint-Tropez, Cádiz, and Lyttelton Harbour, with the final venue being San Francisco.[32]

Teams[]

2021-22 SailGP championship[]

The 2021–22 SailGP championship saw the addition of the New Zealand SailGP team.

Australia Australia[33][34]
Sailor Role(s)
Australia Tom Slingsby CEO and helm
Australia Jason Waterhouse Flight controller and tactician
United Kingdom Ed Powys Flight controller and tactician, grinder (substitute)[a 1]
Australia Kinley Fowler Flight controller and grinder
Australia Kyle Langford Wing trimmer
Australia Sam Newton Grinder
United Kingdom Nick Hutton Grinder
Australia Nina Curtis Athlete[a 2]
Australia Joey Newton Interim athlete[a 3]
  1. ^ Ed Powys will replace Jason Waterhouse at the Italy and Great Britain Sail Grands Prix. Powys will then replace Sam Newton for the ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix.[35]
  2. ^ Nina Curtis joined the Australia SailGP team following a development and training camp at the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix event.[36]
  3. ^ Joey Newton will replace Sam Newton at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix.[37]
Denmark Denmark[38][39]
Sailor Role
Denmark Nicolai Sehested Helm
Denmark Rasmus Køstner Flight controller
Australia Tom Johnson Wing trimmer
Denmark Martin Kirketerp Grinder
Denmark Hans-Christian Rosendahl Grinder
Denmark Lars-Peter Rosendahl Grinder
France France[40][41]
Sailor Role
France Billy Besson Helm
France François Morvan Flight controller
United Kingdom Leigh McMillan Wing trimmer
France Olivier Herledant Grinder
France Matthieu Vandame Grinder
France Thimothé Lapauw Grinder
United Kingdom Great Britain[42][43]
Sailor Role
United Kingdom Ben Ainslie Helm
United Kingdom Paul Goodison Helm (substitute)[b 1]
Australia Luke Parkinson Flight controller
Australia Iain Jensen Wing trimmer
United Kingdom Matt Gotrel Grinder
United Kingdom Richard Mason Grinder
United Kingdom Neil Hunter Grinder
  1. ^ Paul Goodison will replace Ben Ainslie at the Italy and Great Britain Sail Grands Prix.[44]
Japan Japan[45][46]
Sailor Role
Australia Nathan Outteridge CEO and helm
Italy Francesco Bruni Flight controller
United Kingdom Chris Draper Wing trimmer
Japan Leo Takahashi Grinder
Japan Yuki Kasatani Grinder
Japan Tim Morishima Grinder
Japan Taiyo Namakura Interim Athlete[c 1]
  1. ^ Taiyo Nakamura will replace Leo Takahashi at the Italy Sail Grand Prix.[47]
New Zealand New Zealand[48]
Sailor Role
New Zealand Peter Burling Co-CEO and helm
Switzerland Arnaud Psarofaghis Helm (substitute)[d 1]
New Zealand Blair Tuke Co-CEO and flight controller
Australia James Wierzbowski Flight controller (substitute)[d 2]
New Zealand Andy Maloney Wing trimmer
New Zealand Jason Saunders Interim athlete[d 3]
New Zealand Josh Junior Grinder
New Zealand Marcus Hansen Grinder
New Zealand Louis Sinclair Grinder
  1. ^ Arnaud Psarofaghis will replace Peter Burling at the Italy and Great Britain Sail Grands Prix.[49]
  2. ^ James Wierzbowski is named as reserve for the Italy Sail Grand Prix. He will then replace Andy Maloney at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix.[50]
  3. ^ Jason Saunders will replace Blair Tuke for the Italy and Great Britain Sail Grands Prix.[51]
Spain Spain[52]
Sailor Role
New Zealand Phil Robertson Helm
Spain Jordi Xammar Helm
Spain Joel Rodríguez Flight controller
Spain Diego Botín Flight controller
Spain Florian Trittel Wing trimmer
Spain Lucas Trittel Grinder
Spain Antonio Cuervas-Mons Grinder
Spain Mateu Barber Grinder
Spain Xabi Fernández Coach and interim athlete[e 1]
United States Taylor Canfield Interim athlete[e 2]
  1. ^ Xabi Fernández will replace Florian Trittel at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix.[53]
  2. ^ Taylor Canfield will replace Diego Botín at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix.[54]
United States United States[55][56]
Sailor Role
Australia Jimmy Spithill CEO and helm
United States Rome Kirby Flight controller
United Kingdom Paul Campbell-James Wing trimmer
United States Andrew Campbell Grinder
United States Cooper Dressler Grinder
United States Alex Sinclair Grinder

Development rosters[]

As part of its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative, SailGP hosted a series of women's invitational camps that were conducted in each team market.[57] Teams in the 2021-22 SailGP championship were required to train female athletes as part of a trial, with one female athlete then becoming a full member of the team.[58]

The names of athletes selected to become a full member of a SailGP team have been bolded.

Australia Australia[59][60]
Sailor
Australia Nina Curtis
Australia Lisa Darmanin
Denmark Denmark[61][60]
Sailor
Denmark Katja Salskov-Nielsen
Denmark Anne-Marie Rindom
France France[62][60]
Sailor
France Helene Noesmoen
France Amelie Riou
United Kingdom Great Britain[63][60]
Sailor
United Kingdom Hannah Mills
United Kingdom Anna Burnet
United Kingdom Ellie Aldridge
United Kingdom Nikki Boniface
United Kingdom Hannah Diamond
United Kingdom Emily Nagel
Japan Japan[64][60]
Sailor
Japan Wakako Kajimoto
Japan Sena Takano
New Zealand New Zealand[65][60]
Sailor
New Zealand Erica Dawson
New Zealand Liv Mackay
Spain Spain[66][60]
Sailor
Spain Andrea Emone
Spain Tara Pacheco
United States United States[67][60]
Sailor
United States Daniella Moroz
United States CJ Perez

References[]

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External links[]

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