Crescendo arrives for SailGP Season 2

The SailGP Season 2 comes to end with the Grand Final on March 26-27 in San Francisco, CA. After seven international events, the cumulative points among the eight teams will determine the top three with a chance to compete in the $1 million winner-takes-all last race.

First to hit the bay was the home team, with Jimmy Spithill returning to the scene of his incredible comeback in the America’s Cup in 2013 for the first time. With his place in the Championship Final Race guaranteed, Spithill and his U.S. team wasted no time getting to grips with the F50 race boat and the conditions.

“There’s a heap of history here and San Francisco Bay really is one of the best racing venues in the world so it was good to finally get out there on the F50,” said Spithill. “It’s just great to see how much interest there’s been, it’s going to be a massive event in front of our home crowd and I am really looking forward to it. We are the underdogs, but that’s not a bad thing in San Francisco.”

Also guaranteed a place in the final is the overall season leaders and defending champions Australia, driven by Tom Slingsby, who also has gotten a taste of the venue.

“We had a great session, our boat handling was good and we were practicing a few moves for this weekend,” noted Slingsby. “The U.S. team looked strong but we were certainly in the mix so it bodes well for the Grand Final.”

The final place in the championship race is undecided although Nathan Outteridge’s Japan team is the front-runner to take the final spot.

With racing taking place between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz at 2:00pm PT, five races will be contested across March 26 and 27, before the winner-takes-all, season-deciding final race where the overall season champion will be crowned and take home the $1 million prize purse.

But as the San Francisco event is deciding the season champion, the format is adjusted to do both.

As with previous Season 2 events, the five fleet races select the three-team final, but the San Francisco event winner will be decided by only the five fleet races with a win worth 8 points towards a team’s place in the event leaderboard, while second place earns 7 points descending down to 1 point for an eight place finish.

Once the event leaderboard is determined following the five Fleet Races, Championship points will be awarded using the regular scoring system (1st = 10 points, 2nd = 9 points… 8th = 3 points). These points will be added to the Season Championship leaderboard, with the top three teams in this ranking following the addition of the points qualifying for the Season 2 Grand Final.

SailGP information – San Francisco details – Facebook

How to watch – Results – Noticeboard – SailGP Insights

SailGP Season Championship (after 7 events)
1. Australia, 55 pts
2. United States, 53 pts
3. Japan, 51 pts
4. Spain, 43 pts
5. New Zealand, 42 pts
6. Great Britain, 41 pts
7. Denmark, 38 pts
8. France, 35 pts

Format for SailGP events:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• There are three races on each day, totaling six races at each event.
• The opening five fleet races involve every team.
• Race scoring provides 8 points for first, 7 points for second, etc.
• The final race in each event pits the three highest ranking teams against each other to be crowned event champion.
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams from the season ranking for a winner-takes-all match race for the $1m prize.

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
December 17-18, 2021 – Australia Grand Prix – Sydney
January 29-30, 2022 – New Zealand Grand Prix – Christchurch (CANCELLED)
March 26-27, 2022 – United States Grand Prix – San Francisco (Season 2 Grand Final)
*Subject to change

2021-22 Teams, Helm
Australia, Tom Slingsby
Denmark, Nicolai Sehested
France, Quentin Delapierre
Great Britain, Ben Ainslie (alternate – Paul Goodison)
Japan, Nathan Outteridge
New Zealand, Peter Burling (alternate – Arnaud Psarofaghis)
Spain, Jordi Xammar (alternate – Phil Robertson)
United States, Jimmy Spithill

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 race.

Source: SailGP