New Zealand wins SailGP Chicago

New Zealand topped the field to win the SailGP opener for Season 4, held June 16-17 in Chicago, IL. After ideal foiling conditions on day one, Australia and New Zealand were 1-2 heading into day two, and then joined by Canada in the 3-boat final, with the Kiwi team taking the win.

It was a day to remember for last season’s two bottom placed finishers as Diego Botin’s Spain and Sebastien Schneiter’s Switzerland won the final day’s two fleet races. But the victories weren’t enough to get them into the final which saw very light conditions – with the F50s in the 29 meter wing configuration – and a win for the Kiwis.

“This puts us obviously in a great position for the season, we’re really happy to walk away with the win,” noted New Zealand skipper Peter Burling. “In this first one, you know it’s going to be a long season and eventually it’s going to come down to the last race we know but it’s definitely nice to win a few along the way, this feels good.”

It was first blood for Burling in one of the league’s fiercest rivalries between himself and Aussie skipper Tom Slingsby that had played out throughout Season 3.

“Honestly we are really happy, it’s a second place in the first event of the year,” said Slingsby. “Of course we wanted to win, we felt like we sailed really well, and we had a good shot at it but the Kiwis were better in the final race so hats off to them.”

Canada finished fifth and second in the fleet races on day two which was enough to make it into the final, but the team never managed to get in front of its southern hemisphere rivals.

“It’s a great start to the season, and good for the team,” noted Canada skipper Phil Robertson. “It’s a solid result with all the chat that was going on and an unsettled lead-up to this event, look we had our backs against the wall and we delivered.”

It remained an event to forget for the USA team with Jimmy Spithill’s United States finishing in ninth place in the standings.

“If you look at last season what really hurt us was rotation,” said Spithill. “We are going to keep the team as locked as we can, take the lessons. It was just a couple of small mistakes on the first day that really cost us. But otherwise the team was sailing pretty well.”

Chicago crew lists: click here

Season 4 continues with the inaugural Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix | Port of Los Angeles on July 22-23.

Chicago – Final Results
1. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 4-2-2-3-6-(1)
2. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 1-5-1-4-5-(2)
3. Canada (Phil Robertson), 3-1-5-5-2-(3)
4. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 5-4-3-10-4
5. Spain (Diego Botin), 6-9-4-1-7
6. France (Quintin Delapierre), 7-3-9-9-3-
7. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie), 2-7-8-6-10
8. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter), 10-6-10-8-1
9. United States (Jimmy Spithill), 9-10-6-2-8
10. Germany (Erik Heil), 8-8-7-7-9

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.