SailGP in San Francisco

San Francisco SailGP (https://sailgp.com/races/san-francisco/event-overview/) will take place on Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5, 2019, on a city front racecourse, with the Race Village located on the Marina Yacht Club Peninsula. Races will run from 12:30-2 p.m.*, with opportunities for the public to watch from both the water and the shore.

National teams for the United States, Australia, China, France, Great Britain and Japan will compete in a total of five short-format races, culminating with the top two teams facing off in a match race finale to determine the overall event winner on Sunday afternoon.

After getting close in training, the magic 50 knot (60 mph) number remained elusive, and it was more a case of bringing the crews and boats home safely at the end of the day.

The Australia SailGP Team was the fastest boat on the race course, reaching a top speed of 47 knots.

“I never really cared too much about being the first team to hit 50 knots,” said Australia SailGP Team helm Tom Slingsby. “But now it’s a pretty frustrating being so close and not having done it yet. We definitely want to be the first team to do this.”

If the race preview is any indication toward this weekend’s showdown, fans are in for some of the most thrilling racing the Bay has ever seen.

For one team there was a heart stopping moment that nearly ended their championship chances, when the red hulls of the China team came crashing down from the foils, in what helm Phil Robertson called “the scariest moment I have ever had on a yacht”.

Robertson continued: “We went into a bear away, the conditions were fairly fresh, the boat speed built, and I just didn’t get enough rake off in the moment. The boat literally leapt out of the water, nose-dived and we destroyed most of the wing.”

During the practice racing, the Japan and Great Britain SailGP teams squared off, showing impressive boat-handling and finesse on the water, ultimately dominating on the course.