Do robot marks need a brain?

During the Switzerland SailGP event, the league reported how the Brazilian team collided with a mark moments before the start of racing on day two which caused the team to retire. But the league uses robot marks, and Brazilian driver Martine Grael saw the situation differently.

“One of the marks moved and we just dug a massive hole in the boat and then we just couldn’t race,” said Grael. “We know now where SailGP Technologies can improve. I’m pretty sure some vacuum cleaners have better technology for avoiding that in that moment.”

Grael was slyly referring to self-driving robot vacuum cleaners like the Roomba that operate with obstacle sensors to avoid walls and furniture. Robot marks go to where they are told, regardless of pending collision.

SailGP information – Geneva event – YouTube

Geneva Results
1. Germany – Erik Heil, 9-7-5-1-3-(1)
2. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 4-1-3-6-11-(2)
3. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 5-2-8-7-2-(3)
4. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 3-3-4-10-7
5. Spain – Diego Botin, 7-8-6-8-1
6. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 2-9-7-3-9
7. France – Quintin Delapierre, 6-11-1-9-5
8. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 1-5-11-5-10
9. Canada – Giles Scott, 8-6-2-11-6
10. United States – Taylor Canfield, 12-4-12-4-4
11. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 10-10-10-2-8
12. Brazil – Martine Grael, 11-12-9-12-12

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 10 events)
1. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 76 points
2. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 75 points
3. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 73 points
4. Spain – Diego Botin, 70 points
5. France – Quintin Delapierre, 56 points*
6. Canada – Giles Scott, 47 points
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 38 points
8. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 31 points**
9. Germany – Erik Heil, 23 points**
10. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 22 points
11. Brazil – Martine Grael, 14 points**
12. United States – Taylor Canfield, -7 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 of $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.