SailGP charts new course into Web3

If you’re at an age where words such as ‘blockchain’ and ‘cryptocurrency’ make you feel old, you may want to skip this Forbes story:

SailGP—dubbed the sailing world’s equivalent of Formula One—is navigating into the Web3 space.

SailGP is aiming to have a professional sailing team owned and operated by a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, that complies with the U.S. securities law, Russell Coutts said in an interview in Singapore on the sideline of the Forbes Global CEO Conference. Coutts, a five-time America’s Cup winner, cofounded SailGP with Oracle’s billionaire chairman and CTO Larry Ellison in 2018.

Their plan for a DAO, which will be run by its members and built on blockchain platform NEAR, is set to issue both security tokens and fan tokens. The security tokens represent ownership in the sailing team and will be made available to 2,000 accredited investors, whereas people who buy the fan tokens will be entitled to vote on team decisions.

The DAO that meets SailGP’s entry requirements is expected to be formed as early as this month, Coutts said. The community-led organization will need to decide whether to establish a new team or purchase an existing one out of the current nine national teams.

“We believe this will be the first fully DAO-operated team under the U.S. securities framework,” said Coutts, CEO of SailGP. The team could join the championship as soon as June 2023 when the fourth season kicks off. – Full report

SailGP information – YouTube – How to watch

2022-23 SailGP Season 3 Schedule
May 14-15, 2022 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix presented by Hamilton Princess
June 18-19, 2022 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 30-31, 2022 – Great Britain Sail Grand Prix | Plymouth
August 19-20, 2022 – ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix | Copenhagen
September 10-11, 2022 – France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 24-25, 2022 – Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía – Cádiz
November 12-13, 2022 – Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas
January 13-14, 2023 – Singapore Sail Grand Prix
February 17-18, 2023 – Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 17-18, 2023 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 6-7, 2023 – United States Sail Grand Prix | San Francisco (Season 3 Grand Final)

Format for 2022-23 SailGP events:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• There are three qualifying races each day for all nine teams.*
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race for the event championship and to earn the largest share of the $300,000 USD prize money being split among the top three teams.
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race – a winner-takes-all match race for the $1m USD prize.
* Qualifying schedule increased from five to six races at France SailGP.

For competition documents, click here.

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 for event prize money as the season culminates with a $1 million winner-takes-all match race.