SailGP: No easy turnaround for USA

The SailGP league made a significant commitment to the United States in Season 4, scheduling four of its 13 events in the country. Having a USA team is part of the formula, but a change of team ownership after the fifth event has seen the Americans seriously struggle as the new regime learns how to master the F50.

At the penultimate event in New York, skipper Taylor Canfield’s team languished at the back of the fleet throughout all four fleet races to end with a 10-10-10-9 race record. This meant the team finished behind even Germany, which began the event on -4 points after picking up a penalty in practice racing.

Reflecting on the event, which marked the United States’ third consecutive last place finish, commentator Stevie Morrison said: “It’s going to take a lot [to turn the team around] – there’s a lot to learn.”

He questioned the United States’ decision to configure ‘a completely fresh’ crew after the team ownership refresh midway through Season 4.

The new athlete roster saw former U.S. team stalwarts wing trimmer Paul Campbell-James and coach Philippe Presti replaced by an all-American, but inexperienced, crew.

Morrison specifically pointed to the key roles of driver, flight controller and wing trimmer – “I think one of those needs to have experience,” he said. “They’ve chosen to go with a completely fresh team, and I’m sure they’ll back that decision, but I feel like if all three of you are trying to learn at the same time, that’s really, really hard.”

He added: “I think they need a bit of experience to help them with the learning.”

Co-commentator Emily Nagel agreed, pointing to the team’s analytics which show ‘how much they’re adjusting everything’.

“They’re the most active on the wing trim and the foils, which isn’t even a good thing because it makes it really hard for [driver] Taylor [Canfield] to get locked in,” she said.

It comes after Canfield said the team would ‘absolutely not’ be looking for talent abroad if their results do not improve, adding that he is ‘confident in the group we have’.

The team’s New York performance could, however, mark ‘a turning point’ for the team, Nagel said. “They have finally admitted in the press conference that they have a lot of learning to do,” she said. “I think that’s the first time we’ve heard that from them.”

She commended their attitude of ‘we’re going to win and we’re here to smash it’, but added the team ‘need to realize they have gaps in their knowledge, they need to be open to learning and once they’ve done that they will actually improve.”

Speaking after racing, Canfield asked fans to ‘bear with us’ and said the crew had made ‘huge steps’ during the event.

“Maybe the results don’t really show that, but to sail in those tough conditions and to come away with great comms, good maneuvers and really execute on all the stuff we were going for is a big win for us,” he said.

SailGP information – San Francisco details– YouTube – How to watch

Season 4 Standings (after 12 of 13 events; results and total points)
1. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 1-7-8-DNC/6-4-1-1-3-1-2-5-1; 93 points
2. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 2-3-2-2-3-2-7-1-10-3-7-4; 78
3. Spain (Diego Botin), 5-1-3-6-6-10-2-5-4-1-4-7; 76
4. France (Quintin Delapierre), 6-8-6-4-7-4-4-4-2-9-2-5; 71
5. Canada (Phil Robertson), 3-4-10-5-5-3-6-10-3-4-6-2; 67
6. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 4-2-4-7-2-6-9-2-9-5-3-8; 67
7. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie/Giles Scott), 7-6-1-1-8-5-8-7-7-8-1-3; 66
8. United States (Jimmy Spithill/Taylor Canfield), 9-5-5-3-1-8-3-9-8-10-10-10; 51
9. Germany (Erik Heil), 10-10-7-8-9-10-9-5-6-5-6-8-9; 35
10. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter/Nathan Outteridge), 8-9-9-9-7-10-8-6-7-9-6; 33

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