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SailGP

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Japan and USA Sail SailGP teams foiling.

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

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

Season one

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]

Season two

While the second season is scheduled to visit the same five venues as in season 1, the team lineup has changed, with Denmark joining as the 7th team,[18] and Spain replacing China.[19] The British team changed with the signing of Ben Ainslie as skipper. Ainslie is one of the most successful olympic sailor in history, and would crew the British team while continuing his attempt to win the America's Cup. Ainslie's crew will feature sailors from the America's Cup Ineos Team UK and the previous British team.[20]

Season two began on February 28, 2020, in Sydney, Australia. Ben Ainslie and team Great Britain won all three heats on the first day of sailing.[21] Great Britain won the first four of the five fleet races, with team Australia taking the fifth.

The second round of the 2020 SailGP race was due to be held in San Francisco, California, in May 2020,[22] however SailGP suspended its season until the end of June 2020.

References

  1. ^ "Ellison and Coutts launch league for 'supercharged' cats". October 3, 2018 – via www.reuters.com.
  2. ^ Futterman, Matthew (September 20, 2019). "Russell Coutts Likes Sailing Races With Big Money at Stake" – 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. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  4. ^ ""The intention is that each team will eventually be independently owned" | Russell Coutts, SailGP". SportBusiness. September 2, 2019.
  5. ^ Preston, Rob. "SailGP Brings A Very Different Yacht Race To San Francisco Bay". Forbes.
  6. ^ a b "SailGP, Making Sailing Cool". Sailing World.
  7. ^ Hodgetts, Rob. "Software tycoon Larry Ellison sets up SailGP circuit to rival America's Cup". CNN.
  8. ^ "$1 million payday awaits inaugural SailGP champion". Japan Today.
  9. ^ "SailGP's 'wizards of Aus' fly high in million dollar final". September 20, 2019 – via www.reuters.com.
  10. ^ "SailGP comes to Sydney". January 21, 2019.
  11. ^ "SailGP brings the world's fastest sailboats to the bay". SFChronicle.com. May 2, 2019.
  12. ^ "Japanese team dominates New York SailGP race". UPI.
  13. ^ "SailGP comes to Cowes | Inbrief | e-newsletters | News & Events | RYA - Royal Yachting Association". www.rya.org.uk.
  14. ^ "How a $1 million prize was decided by just 78 centimetres". ABC News. September 23, 2019.
  15. ^ SportBusiness Staff. "SailGP claims $115m economic impact for five host cities". SportsBusiness. Retrieved 11 October 2019. {{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ "SailGP reveals economic impac". Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  17. ^ "SailGP attracts global audience of 1.8 billion in Season 1". mysailing.com.au. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  18. ^ "Denmark SailGP Team to join world-class lineup for Season 2". mysailing.com.au. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  19. ^ "Sailing: Spain sets sights on SailGP after China jumps ship". reuters.com. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  20. ^ "Sir Ben Ainslie to skipper British SailGP team in 2020". BBC. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  21. ^ "British team dominates at SailGP". Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  22. ^ Warren, Adrian. "GB sink Australia's hopes in Sydney SailGP". 7 News Australia. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
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