When will this team turn the corner?

by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Sailing News
The U.S. SailGP Team just can’t get it together. In a league where time on the water is critical to improve, they keep finding ways to sit ashore. Their latest incident occurred when they rammed the British boat during day one of the German event, a seemingly basic port-starboard upwind crossing in which USA was on port.

“We saw them coming from a long way off on port, and it’s just super frustrating they couldn’t avoid us,” noted British Strategist Hannah Mills. “Luckily, their bow came off, which meant we weren’t stuck together, and thankfully both crews were okay and unharmed.”

While visibility is difficult, the British saw the USA boat, plus each team has coaches that communicate, among other things, crossing situations. Said British helm Dylan Fletcher, “The boats were going on their directions for some time” but the USA statement inferred that these things still can happen:

“We understand this is the nature of our sport and are relieved no one was injured. We regret the impact on GBR’s race, and both Shore Teams have already begun repairs. Our goal is to be back on the start line tomorrow.”

The nature of what sport? For SailGP, this was an easy situation. And to think they would return the following day, after they plowed through the British and broke off the front third of their port hull, was  wholly unrealistic, and it was as part of the USA hull was needed to repair the Brits.

It is a shame, as the USA team were more competitive through the first four races. While they don’t disclose the onboard team, it is believed they had a new wing trimmer (Mike Menninger) and strategist (Andrew Campbell) with a new coach (Marcus Lynch) on the headsets. Too much change? Mismanagement? When will this team turn the corner? Standing by…

SailGP information – Sassnitz event – YouTube – Crew list

Sassnitz Results*
1. France – Quintin Delapierre, 8-2-6-4-4-8-4-(1)
2. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 6-3-1-2-3-2-3-(2)
3. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 2-1-11-10-2-1-2-(3)
4. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 5-4-10-1-9-5-5
5. Germany – Erik Heil, 1-7-7-6-7-3-8
6. Spain – Diego Botin, 9-5-3-5-6-7-6
7. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 11-6-2-7-2-6-7
8. Canada – Giles Scott, 10-10-5-3-5-4-9
9. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 7-8-9-8-8-10-1
10. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 4-11-8-9-10-9-10
11. United States – Taylor Canfield, 3-9-4-11-11-11-11
12. Brazil – Martine Grael, 12-12-12-12-11-11-11
* Brazil did not compete after damaging boat in practice. USA did not finish race 4 after collision with GBR and did not compete in races 5-7.

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 8 events)
1. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 61 points
2. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 61 points
3. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 58 points
4. Spain – Diego Botin, 56 points
5. France – Quintin Delapierre, 47 points*
6. Canada – Giles Scott, 44 points
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 30 points
8. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 22 points**
9. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 20 points
10. Brazil – Martine Grael, 11 points**
11. Germany – Erik Heil, 6 points**
12. United States – Taylor Canfield, -8 points**
* France was awarded points for the first two events as their F50 was not available
**Teams receive 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
* The season began with 14 events but Tranto was replaced with Saint-Tropez, while Rio and Middle East were cancelled.

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).
• The league still owns the New Zealand and Spain teams and are looking at how they can bring new investment into them.

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