SailGP – Wikipedia

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International sailing competition

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 their 2nd consecutive title in the 2021–22 SailGP championship.[2][3]

Background[edit]

The competition was founded by Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and champion yachtsman Russell Coutts.[4] 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.[5] Teams are currently owned by the competition with the intention of becoming privately owned.[6]

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.[7][8][9]

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.[10] 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.[11]

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.[12][13] 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.[8]

Scoring[edit]

Scoring at events[edit]

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.[11]

Scoring in the championship[edit]

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.[11]

Penalties[edit]

After the 2021 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.[14]

Seasons[edit]

2019 season[edit]

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,[15]San Francisco,[16]New York,[17]Cowes[18] and Marseille. 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.[19]

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.[20][21][22]

New Zealand SailGP Team competing in the United States Grand Prix in March 2022 on San Francisco Bay.

2021–22 season[edit]

The second season of SailGP introduced two new teams to the sport, with Spain replacing the Chinese team[23] and Denmark joining on as the 7th team.[24] 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.[25]

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.[26] 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.[27] 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.[28]

The second round of the 2020 SailGP race was due to be held in San Francisco, in May 2020,[29] 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.[30]

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.[31] The season commenced in April 2021 with the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix, which was won by Ben Ainslie’s Great Britain SailGP team.[32] Future venues include Taranto, Plymouth, Aarhus, Saint-Tropez, Cádiz, and Lyttelton Harbour, with the final venue being San Francisco.[33]

Ultimately the season was won by the Australia SailGP team in the final race in San Francisco Bay.[3]

2022–23 season[edit]

The third season of SailGP again introduced two new teams to the sport, with Canada and Switzerland joining, and three new venues with the additions of Dubai, Singapore and New Zealand. The venue in Denmark moved from Aarhus to Copenhagen and there will be 2 venues in the United States, Chicago and San Francisco[34]

Australian, Chinese and British SailGP teams.

2021-2022 SailGP championship[edit]

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

  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.[37]
  2. ^ Nina Curtis joined the Australia SailGP team following a development and training camp at the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix event.[38]
  3. ^ Joey Newton will replace Sam Newton at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix.[37]
  1. ^ Paul Goodison will replace Ben Ainslie at the Italy and Great Britain Sail Grands Prix.[45]
  1. ^ Taiyo Nakamura will replace Leo Takahashi at the Italy Sail Grand Prix.[48]
  1. ^ Arnaud Psarofaghis will replace Peter Burling at the Italy and Great Britain Sail Grands Prix.[50]
  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.[50]
  1. ^ Xabi Fernández will replace Florian Trittel at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix.[52]
  2. ^ Taylor Canfield will replace Diego Botín at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix.[52]

Development rosters[edit]

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.[55] 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.[56]

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

France[59][57]
Sailor
Helene Noesmoen
Amelie Riou
New Zealand[50][57]
Sailor
Erica Dawson
Liv Mackay
United States[60][57]
Sailor
Daniella Moroz
CJ Perez

2022-2023 sailGP championship[edit]

Thanks to the 4th season of sailGP we saw the addition of women in a lot of teams.

France[41][42]

Spain[52][57]

United States[60][57]

New Zealand[50][57]

Switzerland

Great Britain

eSailGP[edit]

Since 2019, SailGP also organizes an Esports competition known as eSailGP.[61]

References[edit]

  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. ^ New, Gerald. “SailGP Final – Australia win the US$1,000,000 prize pot”. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  3. ^ a b World, Yachting (2022-03-28). “Slingsby and Co win SailGP Season 2”. Yachting World. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ ““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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ a b “SailGP, Making Sailing Cool”. Sailing World. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ World, Yachting (2021-04-16). “SailGP: All you need to know about the 2021 season”. Yachting World. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  11. ^ a b c “SailGP Explained // How Scoring Works”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  12. ^ “$1 million payday awaits inaugural SailGP champion”. Japan Today. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  13. ^ “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.
  14. ^ “SailGP Explained // Penalties”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  15. ^ “SailGP comes to Sydney”. January 21, 2019. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
  16. ^ “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.
  17. ^ “Japanese team dominates New York SailGP race”. UPI. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  18. ^ “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.
  19. ^ “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.
  20. ^ SportBusiness Staff. “SailGP claims $115m economic impact for five host cities”. SportsBusiness. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  21. ^ “SailGP reveals economic impac”. Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  22. ^ “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.
  23. ^ “Sailing: Spain sets sights on SailGP after China jumps ship”. reuters.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  24. ^ “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.
  25. ^ “Sir Ben Ainslie to skipper British SailGP team in 2020”. BBC. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  26. ^ “Denmark gets event in SailGP Season 2”. sailingscuttlebutt.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  27. ^ “British team dominates at SailGP”. Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  28. ^ “Ben Ainslie and Great Britain cap off dominating performance with Sydney SailGP title”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ “SailGP Season 2 rescheduled for 2021”. SailGP. 2020-05-04. Archived from the original on 2020-05-06. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  31. ^ “SailGP announces addition of New Zealand team, led by Olympic and America’s Cup champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  32. ^ “Great Britain stuns dominant Australia to be crowned Bermuda Sail Grand Prix champion on dramatic final day”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  33. ^ “SailGP’s Season 2 to feature eight global events from April 2021 to March 2022”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  34. ^ “Two further venues added to SailGP Season 3 calendar as more 2023 dates are revealed”. www.sail-world.com. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  35. ^ “Australia”. SailGP. Archived from the original on 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
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  38. ^ Hogan, Olivia. “Olympic Silver Medallist Nina Curtis announced to join Australian SailGP Team”. Sail-World. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  39. ^ “Denmark SailGP Team unveils star-studded mixed crew for SailGP Season 2”. SailGP. 2021-03-21. Archived from the original on 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
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  43. ^ “Great Britain”. SailGP. Archived from the original on 2021-04-18. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
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  47. ^ “Japan SailGP Team announces new signings for Season 2”. SailGP. 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2021-04-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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  53. ^ “United States”. SailGP. Archived from the original on 2021-04-18. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
  54. ^ “Moroz, Perez, Campbell-James, and Presti complete U.S. SailGP Team lineup”. SailGP. 2021-04-08. Archived from the original on 2021-04-08. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  55. ^ “POWERED BY NATURE, DRIVEN BY PURPOSE: SAILGP LAUNCHES DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION INITIATIVE AS PART OF RACE FOR THE FUTURE”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  56. ^ “Gender Equity Initiative”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  57. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k “SailGP returns to Sky Sports for Season 2; global season starts in Bermuda on Saturday”. Sky Sports. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
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  59. ^ “SailGP”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  60. ^ a b “SailGP”. SailGP. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  61. ^ “Play eSailGP Esports – Best Virtual Sailing Game”. sailweb.co.uk.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SailGP.