US SailGP Team: “We’re not going to disappoint”

While still early for SailGP Season 5, United States driver Taylor Canfield is eager to do well at the fourth event in the Port of Los Angeles on March 15-16. Sitting in 11th of 12 teams on the leaderboard, he’s looking for any advantage when the fleet hits the water.

“It’s nice to have the lack of travel on our side – keeping those hours down and not having jet lag is always a benefit for the team,” he noted after a disappointing event in Sydney, which saw the U.S. unable to compete after capsizing and sustaining damage while being towed to the race area.

“I can guarantee that we’re going to bring some good energy and push hard,” adding that the team ‘isn’t sleeping right now’. “They’re up and making sure that we’re getting better even when we’re not out sailing – we’re looking forward and I know we’re not going to disappoint.”

As the LA venue is not a common racing site, there will be no local knowledge for the USA team, with Spain having won the the first time for the venue during Season 4. But that event was in July, which tends to have reliable summer conditions, while anything goes in March with winds impacted by winter storms.

SailGP information – Los Angeles details – Crew list – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 3 of 14 events)
1. Great Britain, 27 points
2. Australia, 24 points
3. Spain, 20 points
4. New Zealand, 20 points
5. Denmark, 17 points
6. Canada, 15 points
7. France, 15 points*
8. Switzerland, 12 points
9. Italy, 7 points
10. Brazil, 0 point**
11. United States, 0 points**
12. Germany, -6 points**
* France was awarded points for the first two events as their F50 was not available
**Teams are awarded season penalty points for incidents during practice or racing

Season 5 Schedule – 14 events
2024
November 23-24 – Dubai, UAE

2025
January 18-19 – Auckland, New Zealand
February 8-9 – Sydney, Australia
March 15-16 – Los Angeles, USA
March 22-23 – San Francisco, USA
May 3-4 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 7-8 – New York City, USA
July 19-20 – Portsmouth, Great Britain
August 16-17 – Sassnitz, Germany
September 6-7 – Taranto, Italy
September 12-13 – Saint-Tropez, France
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain
November 7-8 – Middle East *
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE
* Venue to be announced

Format for Season 5:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Five 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 prize purse (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $400,000.00 USD prize purse with winning team 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 a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $2 million USD prize).
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will get a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had a $350,000.00 prize).
• Ten of the 12 teams are privately owned, with the league having ownership of New Zealand and Spain.

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.