Bermuda lockdown in advance of SailGP

As eight international teams prepare for the second season for SailGP to kick off in Bermuda on April 24-25, The Royal Gazette reports how Premier David Burt announced that Bermuda will return to a shelter at home policy from 5am on April 13 for at least seven days.

He said all businesses apart from grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations would be closed while household mixing is prohibited by law, he said.

“It is clear that the rate of spread is far more advanced than believed and the regulations put in place have not been enough to slow it down,” said Burt. “We must act now as continued household mixing is leading to increased transmissions.”

How this impacts training in advance of the competition is not yet known as SailGP management is to meet with the Bermuda government. Reported last month, event organizers already were adhering to strict protocols regarding government guidelines.

Burt contends the current outbreak was due to reckless behavior of individuals and he said it had been exacerbated by people mixing outside their family groups both before and on the Easter weekend.

Health minister Kim Wilson said 118 positive cases had been recorded on April 10-11, bringing the total number of active cases to 877, of whom 36 were in hospital and six remained in critical care.

Of the new cases, five were from travelers, including one from an American Airlines flight from Miami on March 31, one from a Delta flight from Atlanta on April 8 and three from the new American Airlines flight from Charlotte on April 9.

Twenty cases were classified as local transmission from a known source and 93 were recorded as under investigation because the source is not known.

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

SAILGP SEASON 2 SCHEDULE*
April 24-25, 2021 – Bermuda Grand Prix
June 5-6, 2021 – Italy Grand Prix – Taranto
July 17-18, 2021 – Great Britain Grand Prix – Plymouth
August 20-21, 2021 – ROCKWOOL Denmark Grand Prix – Aarhus
September 11-12, 2021 – France Grand Prix – Saint-Tropez
October 9-10, 2021 – Spain Grand Prix – Andalusia
January 29-30, 2022 – New Zealand Grand Prix – Christchurch
March 26-27, 2022 – United States Grand Prix – San Francisco (Season 2 Grand Final)
*Subject to change

2021-22 Teams
Australia, Tom Slingsby
Denmark, Nicolai Sehested
France, Billy Besson
Great Britain, Ben Ainslie
Japan, Nathan Outteridge
New Zealand, Peter Burling
Spain, Jordi Xammar/ Phil Robertson*
United States, Jimmy Spithill
* Xammar will helm with Season 1 skipper Phil Robertson (NZL) serving in an interim capacity. Details.

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.

Source: U.S. SailGP Team, Scuttlebutt