SailGP: Five things to watch in San Francisco

The 14-event schedule for SailGP will be in San Francisco on March 22-23 for the fifth event of Season 5, though Scuttlebutt worries the league is without a calendar. In their propensity for hype, SailGP repeatedly refers to this as a high-wind venue, which it is… in the summer.

Is the league trying to manifest good weather? Perhaps, as winter storms are indeed taking a break and sufficient wind appears to be in the forecast. Anyway, here are five things that SailGP wants you to watch out for when racing gets underway:

Could we see another event winner?
Great Britain may currently sits at the top of the leaderboard, but the team is by no means dominating the fleet. The four events so far this season – Dubai, Auckland, Sydney and Los Angeles have all resulted in different winners – New Zealand, Australia, GBR, and most recently Canada. Who will rise to the top of the leaderboard to take the event win in San Francisco?

Will Denmark be on the start line?
Los Angeles was a disastrous event for Nicolai Sehested’s Danish team, which hit a mark in the first fleet race and was unable to race for the rest of the event due to damage to the team F50. Now the team is in a race against time to get their F50 race ready for San Francisco. Will they make the start line?

Big breeze contenders
Known for high end conditions and a strong current, San Francisco usually favors the high wind specialists of the fleet, such as Australia, New Zealand, GBR, and France. Will one of these teams take the event trophy, and how will the newer teams cope with the breezier conditions?

USA at home
After an improved 9th place finish in Los Angeles, the United States has a second chance to defend home waters this weekend. Will Taylor Canfield’s crew take advantage of the home support for another improved performance?

Can Spain repeat Season 4 performance in San Fran?
It’s been an up and down season so far for Season 4 champions Spain, with strong performances in Dubai and Auckland (4-2) before a dip in Sydney (7) and a mid-fleet finish in Los Angeles (5). Diego Botin’s team will be looking to make its mark on the season leaderboard with an event win. Can they do it in San Francisco, the backdrop to their Season 4 victory?

SailGP information – San Francisco details – Crew list – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 4 of 14 events)
1. Great Britain, 34 points
2. Australia, 32 points
3. New Zealand, 29 points
4. Spain, 26 points
5. Canada, 25 points
6. France, 20 points*
7. Switzerland, 13 points
8. Italy, 10 points
9. Denmark, 9 points**
10. United States, 2 points**
11. Brazil, 0 point**
12. Germany, -2 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
* Venue to be announced

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).
• Ten of the 12 teams are privately owned, with the league having ownership of New Zealand and Spain.

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.