SailGP: The perfect starting strategy

Phil Robertson, who drove the SailGP teams for China, Spain, and Canada in Season 1, 2, 3, and 4, offers insight into executing a perfect starting strategy and reveals his secrets behind nailing the perfect start:

The start is the most important part of the race – and it will make or break your performance. It’s all about getting off the line at close to maximum speed in a favored position – whether that’s down the line, in the middle or up the line. That really depends on where the fastest point is in terms of securing the shortest distance or fastest angle to Mark 1.

There’s a blue marker on the live broadcast to show fans where that is – that shows up on the boat’s starting software too, so that’s what you’re aiming for. To put it simply, there’s 12 boats, and if you get around Mark 1 in the top three, you’re probably going to stay in the top three. So the start really makes or breaks your race.

The start is just as important in all conditions. It probably becomes even more important when the breeze becomes lighter. It’s very hard to pass the fleet and overtake boats if you’re behind unless the boats in front of you start to make mistakes. The same is true of different venues and racecourses, but the tighter the racecourse, the more important it is to get around Mark 1 in good shape.

On tight racecourses, you’re doing a lot of maneuvers and there’s not a lot of space to stretch your legs and find clear air. On a racecourse like San Francisco, there’s plenty of space and you can really put the hammer down on the upwinds and downwind and find a clear lane. You’ve got more options to pass, but on a tighter racecourse, the fewer passing lanes there are and the fewer opportunities to find space. – Full report

SailGP information – Portsmouth event – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 6 events)
1. Spain – Diego Botin, 46 points
2. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 45 points
3. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 44 points
4. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 41 points
5. Canada – Giles Scott, 38 points
6. France – Quintin Delapierre, 36 points*
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 20 points
8. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 14 points**
9. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 13 points
10. Brazil – Martine Grael, 9 point**
11. Germany – Erik Heil, 0 points**
12. United States – Taylor Canfield, 0 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 though Rio may be rescheduled.

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 currently maintains control ownership of the teams based in Denmark, New Zealand, and Spain, though it’s actively in the process of selling the Spanish team.

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