SailGP

SailGP is an international sailing competition using high performance F50 foiling catamarans.[1] Teams compete across a season of multiple grands prix around the world, with the first season being held in 2019.

Japan and USA Sail SailGP teams foiling.

Background

The competition was founded by Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and champion yachtsman Russell Coutts.[2] 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.[3] Teams are currently owned by the competition with the intention of becoming privately owned.[4]

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.[5][6][7]

Each race meet consists of three days of racing, each with three fleet races. The winning team of each race scores 10 points, with second place earning 9 points etc. 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.[8][9] 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.[6]

Seasons

2019 season
Main article: 2019 SailGP championship

The inaugural competition was in 2019 with 6 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,[10] San Francisco,[11] New York,[12] Cowes[13] 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.[14]

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.[15][16][17]

2021–22 season

The second season of SailGP introduced 2 new teams to the sport, with Spain replacing the Chinese team[18] and Denmark joining on as the 7th team.[19] The British team changed as well, signing 4 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.[20]

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.[21] 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.[22] 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.

The second round of the 2020 SailGP race was due to be held in San Francisco, in May 2020,[23] 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 Syndey race removed from the championship.[24]

Teams
Australia
SailorRole
Tom SlingsbyCEO & Helm
Jason WaterhouseFlight Controller
Kyle LangfordWing Trimmer
Ky HurstGrinder
Sam NewtonGrinder
Kinley FowlerGrinder
Denmark
SailorRole
Nicolai SehestedHelm
Rasmus KostnerFlight Controller
Tom JohnsonWing Trimmer
Martin KirketerpGrinder
Hans-Christian RosendahlGrinder
Lars-Peter RosendahlGrinder
France
SailorRole
Billy BessonHelm
Francois MorvanFlight Controller
Matthieu VandameWing Trimmer
Olivier HerledantGrinder
Thimothe LapauwGrinder
Devan le BihanGrinder
Great Britian
SailorRole
Sir Ben AinslieHelm
Chris DraperCEO
Luke ParkinsonFlight Controller
Iain JensenWing Trimmer
Richard MasonTrimmer
Matt GotrelGrinder
Neil HunterGrinder
Japan
SailorRole
Nathan OutteridgeCEO & Helm
Leo TakahashiFlight Controller
Ayden MenziesWing Trimmer
Yuki KasataniGrinder
Tim MorishimaGrinder
Yugo YoshidaGrinder
New Zealand
SailorRole
Pete BurlingCEO & Helm
Blair TukeCEO & Flight Controller
Andy Moloney
Josh Junior
Olivia Mackay
Marcus Hansen
Louis Sinclair
Erica Dawson
United States
SailorRole
Jimmy SpithillCEO & Helm
Rome KirbyFlight Controller

References
  1. "Ellison and Coutts launch league for 'supercharged' cats". October 3, 2018. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2019 – via www.reuters.com.
  2. Futterman, Matthew (September 20, 2019). "Russell Coutts Likes Sailing Races With Big Money at Stake". Archived from the original on September 24, 2019. Retrieved September 22, 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
  3. Ayles, Jason (8 October 2019). "Sir Russell Coutts Wants To Build SailGP Legacy After Successful Inaugural Series Of Global Sailing Event". Forbes. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  4. ""The intention is that each team will eventually be independently owned" | Russell Coutts, SailGP". SportBusiness. September 2, 2019. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  5. Preston, Rob. "SailGP Brings A Very Different Yacht Race To San Francisco Bay". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  6. "SailGP, Making Sailing Cool". Sailing World. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  7. Hodgetts, Rob. "Software tycoon Larry Ellison sets up SailGP circuit to rival America's Cup". CNN. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  8. "$1 million payday awaits inaugural SailGP champion". Japan Today. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  9. "SailGP's 'wizards of Aus' fly high in million dollar final". September 20, 2019. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2019 – via www.reuters.com.
  10. "SailGP comes to Sydney". January 21, 2019. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  11. "SailGP brings the world's fastest sailboats to the bay". SFChronicle.com. May 2, 2019. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  12. "Japanese team dominates New York SailGP race". UPI. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  13. "SailGP comes to Cowes | Inbrief | e-newsletters | News & Events | RYA - Royal Yachting Association". www.rya.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  14. "How a $1 million prize was decided by just 78 centimetres". ABC News. September 23, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-11-09. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  15. SportBusiness Staff. "SailGP claims $115m economic impact for five host cities". SportsBusiness. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  16. "SailGP reveals economic impac". Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  17. "SailGP attracts global audience of 1.8 billion in Season 1". mysailing.com.au. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  18. "Sailing: Spain sets sights on SailGP after China jumps ship". reuters.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  19. "Denmark SailGP Team to join world-class lineup for Season 2". mysailing.com.au. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  20. "Sir Ben Ainslie to skipper British SailGP team in 2020". BBC. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  21. "Denmark gets event in SailGP Season 2". sailingscuttlebutt.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  22. "British team dominates at SailGP". Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  23. Warren, Adrian. "GB sink Australia's hopes in Sydney SailGP". 7 News Australia. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  24. "SailGP Season 2 rescheduled for 2021". SailGP. 2020-05-04. Archived from the original on 2020-05-06. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
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