Debriefing the SailGP Season 4 Championships, looking ahead to the Paris 2024 Olympics
by David Schmidt 16 Jul 23:00 HKT
July 16, 2024
Spanish team celebrate - SailGP- Race Day 2- SailGP Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco, USA. July 14, 2024 © Adam Warner/SailGP
If you follow SailGP, you know that one of the most interesting storylines of Season 4 has been the question of whether driver Tom Slingsby and his Australia SailGP Team could clench a fourth straight season championship and the $2,000,000 prize purse that accompanies the bragging rights. After 13 events that took this foiling circus to four continents, plus the island nation of Bermuda, the sailing world got its answer this past weekend on the waters of San Francisco Bay (July 13 and 14).
SailGP rules stipulate that the three highest-ranked teams progress to the winner-takes-all Grand Final once regular-season racing has concluded. This meant that only driver Peter Burling and his New Zealand SailGP Team - who entered the final weekend topping the leaderboard by a commanding 15 points - were assured of a spot on the starting line of the Grand Final.
Rather than delivering the sort of dominating season performance that fans of the Flying Roo have come to expect, Slingsby and company entered this past weekend's racing in an unfamiliar (for them) second place, astern of New Zealand and just two thin points ahead of driver Diego Botin and his Spain SailGP Team, but a slightly more comfortable seven points ahead of driver Quentin Delapierre and his France SailGP Team.
Saturday's racing saw the ten-strong fleet complete three races that were sailed in reportedly challenging conditions (read: puffs in the low-20s), while Sunday delivered two more fleet races in lighter conditions (read: puffs in the mid-teens).
Once the finishing guns fell silent, Burling and his New Zealand SailGP Team found themselves squaring off against Tom Slingsby and his Australia SailGP Team, who collected three out of five bullets in the fleet racing, and Diego Botin and his Spanish SailGP Team, for the Season 4's final test.
The answer came swiftly, with Botin and company sailing a masterful race that placed both Slingsby and Burling in pursuit mode. The Spanish team was the first across the starting line and the first around the first mark, but theirs was a thin lead, which the team coaxed by reportedly pressing their ride height to reduce their drag through the water, an effort that allowed them to hit a top speed of 48.6 knots.
Unfortunately for Slingsby and company, a bad tack caused them to drop off their foils. The three-time SailGP champions rallied hard after this kerfuffle, however there wasn't enough racetrack left to make a $2,000,000 comeback: Spain crossed the finishing line first to claim the purse.
"We were lucky," said Botin of the winner-takes-all Grand Final in an official communication. "We just managed to stay in front."
Even more impressive was the fact that the Spanish team broke a rudder on the final leg but held it together to take sailing's most lucrative bullet.
"Beating the Kiwis and Aussies in the Grand Final here in San Francisco - it's amazing," said Botin in an official SailGP release. "We're over the moon. It's been a big grind and we've been through a lot in this League - last season we were last in the scores, and look - this season we win! I think we have an amazing team; let's see if we can keep it together and keep the ball rolling."
Sail-World sends a big note of congratulations to the Spanish SailGP Team for sailing an impressive Grand Final.
We also tip our hats to the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team for racking up 602 points in SailGP's Season 4 Impact League. This race-series-within-a-race-series tracks each team's efforts to reduce their carbon footprint and help to bolster the sport's inclusivity standards, and winners are awarded a cash prize that gets donated to their Purpose Partner (read: a non-profit organization aimed at making the world a better place to live).
In this case, the winning purse went to Protect Our Future.
"Winning the Impact League is testament to the team's unwavering commitment to sustainability, innovation, and using the power of sport to inspire and educate the next generation," said Sir Ben Ainslie, the team's CEO. "This win highlights the importance of collaboration and innovation in addressing environmental challenges. Athletes and sports teams have a responsibility to use their platform to drive positive change and raise awareness about climate issues. By advocating for sustainability, they can help protect our future."
Sail-World strongly encourages the idea of individual sailors and organizations doing their bit to help the environment and to make the sport a better experience for everyone, and we certainly hope to see more of this kind of effort at events ranging from Corinthian affairs to the Grand Prix.
SailGP's Season 4 Grand Final might be dominating the current news cycle, but the Paris 2024 Olympics are set to start on Friday, July 26 and continue through Sunday, August 11.
Sailing will take place on the waters off of Marseille, France, and will feature racing in the Men's and Women's Kite (Formula Kites), Men's and Women's Windsurfing (iQFOiLs), Men's and Women's Skiff (49ers and 49erFXs, respectively), Men's and Women's One-Person Dinghy (ILCA 7s and ILCA6s, respectively), the Mixed Two-Person Dinghy (470s), and the Mixed Two-Person Multihull (Nacra 17) events.
Canada will be represented by Emily Bugeja in the Women's Kite; Justin Barnes and Will Jones in the Men's Skiff; sisters Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance in the Women's Skiff, and Sarah Douglas in the Women's One-Person Dinghy.
Mexico will be represented by Mariana Aguilar Chávez Peón in the Women's Windsurfer, and by Elena Oetling in the Women's One-Person Dinghy.
The United States will be represented by Daniela Moroz in the Women's Kite; Markus Edegran in the Men's Kite; Noah Lyons in the Men's Windsurfer; Dominique Stater in the Women's Windsurfer; Ian Barrows and Hans Henken in the Men's Skiff; Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea in the Women's Skiff; Erika Reineke in the Women's One-Person Dinghy; Stu McNay and Lara Dallman-Weiss in the Mixed Two-Person Dinghy, and Sarah Newberry Moore and David Liebenberg in the Mixed Two-Person Multihull.
Sail-World wishes these athletes great luck as they represent their nations and compete against the world's best sailors. Irrespective of the results, simply earning a berth to the Olympics represents years (sometimes decades) of hard work and serious commitment, and we can't wait to cheer on these great athletes once the XXXIII Olympiad begins.
Finally, be sure to get the latest news from the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac, where Stanford Burris and William and Ward Kinney's Andrews 80, Maverick, set a new course record (22 hours, 24 minutes, and 23 seconds) in a storm-fueled race, and from the Melges 24 Nationals (July 12-14), where Geoff Fargo and his Sentinel team proved they had speed to burn on the waters off of Santa Barbara.
May the four winds blow you safely home,
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor