Rethink needed for US SailGP Team

The climb up the learning curve for the United States SailGP Team took a tumble in practice prior to the Bermuda event when a hard capsize damaged their wing. The repair proved to be too much for them to race in their fifth event, and now the question lingers if they will miss the next event too.

“They broke the main element – on a normal sailing boat it’s a bit like the mast, and because they hit the water so hard and so fast, it snapped that element,” observed SailGP broadcast commentator Stevie Morrison. “It’s actually a big repair for the Tech Team to get done.”

The incident occurred when their wing got inverted, a result of wing trimmer Victor Diaz de Leon pressing the wrong button.

Broadcast commentator Emily Nagel noted how the team “hasn’t necessarily done the work between the events to set them up well. As a new team that haven’t done wing trim before, haven’t done flight control before, I would expect them to be in the simulator. As a wing trimmer, you should know your button panel. You should be able to do it in your sleep, and they’re not there yet.”

Morrison suggests the U.S. team, which was remade when a new ownership group took over in November 2023, has been naive in their approach. “They’ve come in talking of Finals,” he said, “I think they need to be working on the basics, working on the maneuvers, chipping away and slowly getting better.”

Notable front-men of the team – Taylor Canfield on helm, Diaz de Leon on trim, and Team CEO Mike Buckley – have made their name in keelboat competition, and Morrison reminds that SailGP is pretty different.

“While they may be some of the leading sailors in that side of our sport, but they’ve come into a pool of all the best sailors, from all the best pools,” said Morrison. “This is the best of the best. You don’t just rock up and win. You work up and earn your stripes. They’re good enough to but they’re not going to do it in a day.”

SailGP information – Halifax details– YouTube – How to watch

Season 4 Standings (after 10 of 13 events; results and total points)
1. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 1-7-8-DNC/6-4-1-1-3-1-2; 77 points
2. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 2-3-2-2-3-2-7-1-10-3; 67
3. Spain (Diego Botin), 5-1-3-6-6-10-2-5-4-1; 65
4. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 4-2-4-7-2-6-9-2-9-5; 56
5. France (Quintin Delapierre), 6-8-6-4-7-4-4-4-2-9; 56
6. Canada (Phil Robertson), 3-4-10-5-5-3-6-10-3-4; 53
7. United States (Jimmy Spithill/Taylor Canfield), 9-5-5-3-1-8-3-9-8-10; 49
8. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie/Giles Scott), 7-6-1-1-8-5-8-7-7-8; 48
9. Germany (Erik Heil), 10-10-7-8-9-10-9-5-6-5-6; 32
10. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter/Nathan Outteridge), 8-9-9-9-7-10-8-6-7; 26

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.