Great Britain wins Halifax SailGP
Published on June 2nd, 2024
Emirates Great Britain has taken the win in a weather-hit final at the ROCKWOOL Canada Sail Grand Prix held June 1-2 in Halifax, NS. For driver Giles Scott, it was his first SailGP victory since stepping into the driver’s seat in January of this year.
Emirates Great Britain thrived in tumultuous conditions, posting top five scores in all qualifying races before clinching victory in the winner-takes-all Final ahead of France and Spain, who finished second and third respectively.
The victory is momentous for Scott who has come under fierce criticism for his poor performances since replacing sailing great Sir Ben Ainslie, but this win moves Emirates GBR up to sixth on the overall season standings, now 13 points off third as all teams push towards the lucrative $2 million Grand Final in San Francisco in July.
“A win at any league event is huge and certainly for me, personally, to come off the back of a pretty frustrating apprenticeship in SailGP,” shared Scott. “To come out with a win here is massive and it’s nice to be able to put a marker down and prove that you’re capable of winning.”
The second day’s conditions also caused drama off the water – with high winds forcing SailGP to adopt an adjusted format after being unable to safely crane all ten F50s into the water in time for the start of racing. With team’s prioritized in order of day one standings, Switzerland and the U.S. were unable to race on day two, whilst Germany missed out on Fleet Race Four.
The other major talking point from the ROCKWOOL Canada Sail Grand Prix was the dramatic capsize involving Australia on the final upwind leg of Fleet Race Five. With tumultuous conditions playing no small part, driver Tom Slingsby pointed to a ‘malfunction’ with boat controls as a cause of the incident. All athletes are fine, but the incident builds on recent woes for the Aussie crew, including an eight season-point penalty in Christchurch.
“No one touched a button and the wing inverted and resulted in a capsize,” Slingsby explained. “It’s a technical issue and I feel like a broken record. I don’t like to blame anyone or anything, but it feels like we’ve been pretty unlucky with technical issues.”
Slingsby was referring to a computer programming error that his boat endured in the previous event, an issue caused by league personnel.
The inaugural ROCKWOOL Canada Sail Grand Prix proved popular with fans despite cold temperatures and rain, though local support was not enough for Canada SailGP Team, finishing last in Fleet Race Five to miss out on the Grand Final and end the weekend sixth overall.
“We were in pretty good shape going into the last race and we just let it slip away again,” admitted driver Phil Robertson. “It is what it is and what an epic event we’ve just had.”
New Zealand maintains the top spot on the Season 4 Championship leaderboard, despite a fifth place finish at the event overall. It was the first time that the Black Foils have missed out on a Final since Cadiz last year. With Australia bumped from second to third in the overall standings, there are now five teams in close contention to be among the top three for the Grand Final.
SailGP continues its North American tour with all ten teams heading to the Big Apple for the penultimate event of the season, the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix on June 22-23.
SailGP information – Halifax details– YouTube – How to watch
Halifax Final Results
1. Great Britain (Giles Scott), 3-5-2-3-2-(1)
2. France (Quintin Delapierre), 2-7-6-2-3-(2)
3. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 6-1-5-4-4-(3)
4. Spain (Diego Botin), 1-4-8-9-7-1
5. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 5-2-4-5-5
6. Canada (Phil Robertson), 7-3-3-1-7
7. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 8-6-1-6-8
8. Germany (Erik Heil), 4-9-9-8-6
9. Switzerland (Nathan Outteridge), 9-8-7-8-9
10. United States (Taylor Canfield), 10-10-10-8-9
Season 4 Standings (after 11 of 13 events; results and total points)
1. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 1-7-8-DNC/6-4-1-1-3-1-2-5; 83 points
2. Spain (Diego Botin), 5-1-3-6-6-10-2-5-4-1-4; 72
3. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 2-3-2-2-3-2-7-1-10-3-7; 71
4. France (Quintin Delapierre), 6-8-6-4-7-4-4-4-2-9-2; 65
5. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 4-2-4-7-2-6-9-2-9-5-3; 64
6. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie/Giles Scott), 7-6-1-1-8-5-8-7-7-8-1; 58
7. Canada (Phil Robertson), 3-4-10-5-5-3-6-10-3-4-6; 58
8. United States (Jimmy Spithill/Taylor Canfield), 9-5-5-3-1-8-3-9-8-10-10; 50
9. Germany (Erik Heil), 10-10-7-8-9-10-9-5-6-5-6-8; 35
10. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter/Nathan Outteridge), 8-9-9-9-7-10-8-6-7-9; 28
For scoring adjustments, click here.
Season 4 – 2023
June 16-17 – 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
December 9-10 – Dubai Sail Grand Prix | Dubai*
Season 4 – 2024
January 13-14 – Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi
February 24-25 – Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 4-5 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix
June 1-2 – Canada Sail Grand Prix | Halifax
June 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | New York
July 13-14 – SailGP Season 4 Grand Final | San Francisco
* Added October 3, 2023
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 (increases to $400k for Abu Dhabi with the winning team now earning $200k at each event).
• 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 $2 million USD prize.
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will be awarded $350,000.00.
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.
Source: SailGP