Sailing-SailGP roars back into action in New York after Rio cancellation
NEW YORK :SailGP teams will shake off the rust in New York this weekend, as the global racing championship gets back into action after a wingsail defect forced a brief hiatus with the cancellation of May's Rio event.
Organisers identified the defect after the Australian boat's wing collapsed in San Francisco in March and carried out repair and upgrade work to remedy the issue on the F50 fleet in time for the highly anticipated New York competition.
"We had almost two months of learning to take from the previous events," said Brazil's twice Olympic champion Martine Grael, SailGP's first-ever female driver.
"We have a lot of changes in our sailing - there are almost too many changes and we know you can only handle a few changes at a time. We're focusing to see what we can adapt here."
The recently added Brazil team hope to move up the standings from 10th as the action kicks off on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (1700 GMT), two and a half hours earlier than planned due to inclement weather.
The three-times champions Australia, who hold just a one-point advantage over Britain in the standings, want to impress after making headlines off the water, with new A-List co-owners Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds announced this week.
The great equaliser between the celebrity-fronted top dogs and the up-and-comers has been the competition's tech-first approach to sailing, with each of the vessels equipped with 125 sensors continuously feeding data.
"We give the data to everybody," SailGP's Chief Technology Officer Warren Jones told Reuters. "Top teams hate it, but the newer teams love it."
Jones was able to build the robust analytics operation from "a blank sheet of paper" by cherry-picking from billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison's Oracle capabilities.
The hope is that the data points broadcast across the competition can help transform the next generation of fans - newcomers and diehards alike.
"There are the basics - you need to know how fast people are going because then it adds the jeopardy of what's going on," said Jones.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
7 hours ago
- Straits Times
Jorginho leaves Arsenal, signs for Flamengo before Club World Cup
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 - Second Leg - Arsenal v PSV Eindhoven - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - March 12, 2025 Arsenal's Jorginho applauds fans after the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/File Photo REUTERS Italy midfielder Jorginho has joined Brazilian side Flamengo ahead of this month's Club World Cup, following a mutual termination of his contract with Arsenal, both clubs said. Jorginho, whose Arsenal deal was set to expire at the end of the month, has joined Flamengo on a contract until July 2028. The 33-year-old Brazil-born Italy international moved to North London from Chelsea in January 2023, making 78 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal. Arsenal finished second to champions Liverpool in the Premier League in the recently-concluded season. "We can confirm that we have reached a mutual agreement with Jorginho to end his contract with immediate effect to become a free agent," Arsenal said in a statement late on Friday. Having started his career at Italian side Hellas Verona before switching to Napoli in 2014, Jorginho won the Champions League, Europa League, Super Cup and Club World Cup titles during his time at Chelsea. Capped 57 times for Italy, he won the European Championship in 2020. "Jorginho's first assignment with Flamengo will be at the Club World Cup," the Brazilian Serie A club said. Flamengo will begin their Club World Cup campaign against Tunisian side ES Tunis on June 16 in Philadelphia. The expanded 32-team Club World Cup runs from June 14 to July 13 in the United States with $1 billion in prize money at stake. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CNA
7 hours ago
- CNA
Jorginho leaves Arsenal, signs for Flamengo before Club World Cup
Italy midfielder Jorginho has joined Brazilian side Flamengo ahead of this month's Club World Cup, following a mutual termination of his contract with Arsenal, both clubs said. Jorginho, whose Arsenal deal was set to expire at the end of the month, has joined Flamengo on a contract until July 2028. The 33-year-old Brazil-born Italy international moved to North London from Chelsea in January 2023, making 78 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal. Arsenal finished second to champions Liverpool in the Premier League in the recently-concluded season. "We can confirm that we have reached a mutual agreement with Jorginho to end his contract with immediate effect to become a free agent," Arsenal said in a statement late on Friday. Having started his career at Italian side Hellas Verona before switching to Napoli in 2014, Jorginho won the Champions League, Europa League, Super Cup and Club World Cup titles during his time at Chelsea. Capped 57 times for Italy, he won the European Championship in 2020. "Jorginho's first assignment with Flamengo will be at the Club World Cup," the Brazilian Serie A club said. Flamengo will begin their Club World Cup campaign against Tunisian side ES Tunis on June 16 in Philadelphia. The expanded 32-team Club World Cup runs from June 14 to July 13 in the United States with $1 billion in prize money at stake.
CNA
14 hours ago
- CNA
Commentary: Tesla is being eaten alive by Chinese rivals it inspired
NEW YORK: The biggest story swirling around Tesla right now concerns chief executive Elon Musk's sudden, if unsurprising, break with a leader who is as calm and unassuming as he is, President Donald Trump. The important story concerns what is happening far from these shores: China. Shipments from Tesla's Shanghai factory fell by 15 per cent in May compared with a year before, according to preliminary data from China's Passenger Car Association. That marks eight straight months of declining output from Tesla's single biggest electric vehicle factory, accounting for around 40 per cent of its global capacity. These figures don't break out which of those EVs get sold in China or get exported from there, but this trend is not Tesla's friend. Through April, its share of China's battery EV market had fallen by more than half over the past four years, according to data compiled by New AutoMotive, a UK-based research firm. DETERIORATING ECONOMICS The numbers also suggest deteriorating economics. On a simple, calendar-day basis, they imply Shanghai factory utilisation of 76 per cent in May. That isn't terrible, but it's down significantly from last May. So far this year, excluding the month of February when Tesla was retooling for the refreshed Model Y, implied utilisation is running 10 points lower than the same period in 2024. Speaking of that updated Model Y, it isn't a good sign that Tesla has already offered incentives like zero-per cent financing in China. Taken together, lower capacity utilisation, implying higher fixed costs per vehicle and higher discounts, meaning less net revenue, point to a continuing problem with what was all too apparent in Tesla's first-quarter results: crushed profit margins in its main business. Unlike Tesla's weaker EV sales in other important markets such as California and Europe, the slide in China has nothing to do with Musk's politics. Tesla's reputation within China remains high, viewed as an essential catalyst in revolutionising the quality and scale of the country's auto sector. NOT A CATALYST, BUT A REACTANT Except that "catalyst" isn't quite the right word, because the beauty of catalysts is that they spark transformations but don't get used up in the process. In this case, it would be more accurate to call Tesla a reactant, because the domestic Chinese EV industry spurred on by its example is now eating it alive. While Tesla's share of China's battery EV sales is down to about 10 per cent so far this year, that drops to 5.8 per cent when you include other so-called 'new energy vehicles' (NEV) such as plug-in hybrids, according to figures compiled by Goldman Sachs Group. Competitors including BYD, which holds about 27 per cent of China's NEV market, are now delivering the sort of excitement that Tesla used to in terms of looks, range and driver assistance features – and at lower prices. Xiaomi, the smartphone maker, is in the process of launching the YU7, a high-tech, fast-charging electric SUV that resembles a Porsche or Ferrari but is perhaps best pictured as a Model Y-seeking missile. In an alternate dimension, China would serve as a hothouse laboratory for Tesla to hone world beating, profitable EVs that might even be exported to its home market. In the dimension we've got, Musk has seemingly lost his ambition to develop brand new, affordable EVs that can compete across the world. AN ERODED POSITION Tesla's last genuinely new model, the Cybertruck, is certainly big but only about as 'beautiful' as the Trump tax Bill that Musk now openly derides as an ' abomination '. While Tesla sits apart from the legacy automakers in the US, Germany and Japan in many respects – certainly in terms of valuation – it has, like them, seen its position in China eroded rapidly. And regardless of Musk's latest posts on X, he worked hard to secure the election of a president and Congressional majority intent on crushing EV sales in the US. With the end of the second quarter approaching, and the sales figures emanating from China and Europe portending another set of weak earnings, it is perhaps little wonder that this narrative is crowded out by all manner of other things. Musk, who ditched Tesla's public relations team and routinely denounces the media as 'propaganda' has nonetheless plunged into a media blitz of late, and has now whipped up a new political intrigue. Is the break with Trump real? My litmus test: watch out if @elonmusk posts a picture of a taco. Plus, of course, we have the imminent launch of Tesla's self-driving cars in Austin. Whatever they actually turn out to be, with the always dubious narrative of Musk's White House job boosting Tesla's fortunes now played out, those robotaxis constitute the main pillar supporting Tesla's triple-digit earnings multiple.
