USA looks for rebound in Chicago

Among the ten national teams preparing for the start of SailGP Season 4, the United States crew is eager for an epic schedule that has half of the 12 events in North America, with four venues in the USA. As the season gets underway June 16-17 in Chicago, driver Jimmy Spithill describes his team as a ‘solid, locked-in squad’ that looks to start strong.

It comes after frequent crew rotation resulted in turbulent on water performances in Season 3. The team’s results fluctuated from finishing eighth at home in Chicago to an event win in Saint-Tropez. Overall, the team finished Season 3 in seventh – a significant drop from their third place Season 2 finish behind Japan and Australia.

“If I look back on Season 3, it was just inconsistency,” Spithill said. “Inconsistency in our line-up and inconsistency in our results. We went from winning events to finishing down the bottom end in others.”

The secret to SailGP, he said, has been proved to be ‘consistency – it’s as simple as that’.

After rotating Hans Henken and Rome Kirby in the flight control position and racing with five different strategists on board in Season 3, the crew line-up heading into Chicago’s season opener is ‘locked in’.

“We have a solid, core squad and now it’s just about going out there, continuing to learn and really keep that team locked together.”

Spithill also highlighted the fact that the U.S. team picked up the most penalty points throughout Season 3; a total of 29, as well as two eight-point event penalties at the Range Rover France Sail Grand Prix and San Francisco Grand Final for causing contact and damage. This meant the team was docked a total of eight points from its season championship score.

“We just can’t afford to go out and lose points for silly things like that,” he said. In Season 4, the U.S. will be focused on striking a better balance between risk and reward. “The risk has got to weigh up versus the rewards, and you’ve got to think about the long term gain.”

Setting his intentions for the opening battle in Chicago and the season itself, Spithill said: “Get out there, have clean races and try and finish in the top half to have a shot at qualifying for the podium race.”

The racing off Navy Pier is scheduled between 4:00-5:30pm CDT.

For the Chicago crew lists, click here.

United States SailGP Team
Driver: Jimmy Spithill
Wing Trimmer: Paul Campbell-James
Flight Controller: Hans Henken
Grinder: Cooper Dressler
Grinder: Alex Sinclair
Grinder: Mac Agnese
Strategist: Cameron Farrah
Coach: Philippe Presti

Teams for Season 4
Australia (Tom Slingsby)
Canada (Phil Robertson)
Denmark (Nicolai Sehested)
Germany (Erik Heil)
Great Britain (Ben Ainslie)
France (Quintin Delapierre)
New Zealand (Peter Burling)
Spain (Diego Botin)
Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter)
United States (Jimmy Spithill)

SailGP information – Chicago details – YouTube – How to watch

Season 4 – 2023
June 16-17 – Rolex United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Los Angeles
September 9-10 – France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 23-24 – Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto
October 14-15 – Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía- Cádiz

Season 4 – 2024
January 13-14 – UAE Sail Grand Prix | Venue to be announced
February 24-25 – KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 23-24 – ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
May 4-5 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix
June 1-2 – Canada Sail Grand Prix | Venue to be announced
June 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | New York
July 13-14 – SailGP Season 4 Grand Final | San Francisco

Format for Season 4:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Up to seven qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the $300.000.00 USD event prize money purse that’s divided among the top three teams.
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming the $1m USD prize.

For competition documents, click here.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.