Danish team joins SailGP 2020

Nicolai Sehested

After six national teams competed in the inaugural SailGP season in 2019, the field will expand by one for 2020 with the addition of the Denmark SailGP Team. Multi-time around-the-world sailor Nicolai Sehested will be at the helm alongside Olympic silver medalist Jonas Høgh-Christensen as team manager.

The Danes are supported by ROCKWOOL, the world leader in stone wool solutions, which has agreed to a three-year partnership with SailGP, with option to extend for a further three seasons.

The goal of SailGP is to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing in some of the iconic harbors around the globe with self-supported national teams.

Sehested, 30, has had significant success across a variety of major sailing events, highlighted by two Ocean Race campaigns as a helmsman. He’s also been the skipper and founder of Ewii Racing (formerly TREFOR Racing) in the World Match Racing Tour since 2010, with more than 30 podium finishes.

Høgh-Christensen is a four-time Olympian in the Finn class (2004-16) – including in 2012, when he took the silver medal – and a five-time world championship medalist. On the business side, he spent seven years in marketing, commercial, and operations with entertainment company Live Nation, and co-founded peer-to-peer boat rental platform Boatflex.

The seventh F50 catamaran was launched last week in New Zealand with a test team from around the league. Once the new F50 is commissioned, Sehested will take the reins for a two-week training period in January – during which the remainder of the team will be determined – in the lead-up to the Season 2 opener of SailGP on February 28-29 in Sydney.

“The moment I saw SailGP, I knew we had to be part of this thrilling new chapter in our sport’s history,” said Sehested. “It’s the best sailors in the fastest boats, all racing close to shore – it’s incredibly intense racing and a true spectacle to watch. We’re extremely grateful to have such significant support from ROCKWOOL to be able to launch this team, and we look forward to making Denmark proud.”

Following the Sydney event, the global championship returns to the U.S. for events in San Francisco (May 2-3) and New York (June 12-13), before returning to Cowes on the Isle of Wight (August 14-15) for the first European event of the season. The remainder of the schedule will be announced by January 2020.

Season 1 – 2019 Schedule
Sydney, Australia (February 15-16)
San Francisco, USA (May 4-5)
New York, USA (June 21-22)
Cowes, UK (August 10-11)
Marseille, France (September 20-22)

SailGP Season 1 Overall Leaderboard
1. Australia, Tom Slingsby, 229
2. Japan, Nathan Outteridge, 223
3. China, Phil Robertson, 171
4. Great Britain, Dylan Fletcher, 169
5. France, Billy Besson, 164
6. United States, Rome Kirby, 163

Note: Total points based on SailGP scoring.

SailGP details – Team rosters – Results – Where to watch – Facebook

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing in some of the iconic harbors around the globe. Rival national teams compete in identical F50 catamarans with the season culminating with a $1 million winner-takes-all match race.

2020 Schedule*
Sydney, Australia (February 28-29)
San Francisco, USA (May 2-3)
New York, USA (June 12-13)
Cowes, UK (August 14-15)
* Additional dates TBA

Source: SailGP