SailGP's toughest task lies ahead in one of its more exciting venues: Upper New York Bay

New York Times

20 hours ago

The SailGP fleet is steeling itself for one of the most exciting venues of the season.
The towering skyline of New York City certainly takes the breath away, but that famous wall of skyscrapers is also quite capable of taking the wind away, too. No sane sailing event would choose to hold a competition on the waters of Upper New York Bay, although Formula One probably shouldn't stage a grand prix on the narrow streets of Monaco, either.
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Love it or loathe it, Upper New York Bay will make for an impressive sporting arena this weekend for the 12-team close-to-shore sailing championship.
It's far from a straightforward venue; the wind is likely to be extremely gusty and shifty, making it very hard for the strategists to give a clear call on tactics. Keeping SailGP's identical F50 catamarans, which compete head-to-head, in stable flight is hard enough on an open track, so trying to achieve constant foiling as the breeze swirls off the streets of Manhattan is much more difficult.
The F50 will tax the coordination of the 'back three' in each six-person crew — the driver (makes final decisions about steering), wing trimmer (adjusts the wing sail for maximum speed) and flight controller (manages the ride height of the boat above the water).
Then again, last year's New York event produced good, steady breezes that took everyone pleasantly by surprise. Though the long-range forecast for this weekend suggests it's going to be softer and flukier in 2025.
Practice is always in short supply on the F50s, but it's been more so in recent weeks due to the cancellation of what would have been SailGP's first trip to South America, the Rio Grand Prix, which had been scheduled for early May. Following the catastrophic disintegration of the Australian team's wingsail in the closing stages of the San Francisco Grand Prix in March, the Brazil event had to be canned as designers and engineers were thrown the task of strengthening the wings of all 12 competing F50s.
Behind the scenes, there has been a massive effort to have the new wings ready, with the technical work done on both sides of the Atlantic.
SailGP Technologies in the English city of Southampton has been assisted by America's Cup team American Magic, who have contributed their people and facilities in Pensacola, Florida, to make sure the fleet is seaworthy and race-ready for New York.
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Each boat has received an upgraded 'main element 1' — the area of the wingsail that bears the most load in racing conditions. SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts said in a press release: 'These new components for the wingsails feature an aluminum Nomex core and increased laminate, which means the new shear webs will be approximately twice as strong.'
So, assuming the boats hold together, what of the form book for New York?
Talking of form books, SailGP has just this week announced its foray into sports betting, with punters now able to gamble on a number of outcomes in the racing.
With five different winners from five events so far in Season 5, the field is wide open. Last year, it was New Zealand who continued a good run of form in Season 4 to take victory in New York, and Peter Burling's team also took the opening event of the current season in Dubai last November.
Other winners so far have been Australia, Great Britain, Canada and Spain. The points at the top of the leaderboard are extremely tight, with fifth-placed Canada just four points behind leader Australia.
As Season 5 approaches its halfway point, the gap between the top and the bottom half of the leaderboard has already opened up. The big five look to be in a different league, although the French are also showing signs of being able to mix it with the best. Perhaps Quentin Delapierre's crew will find that edge of speed that was missing in San Francisco to become the sixth different winner of the season this weekend in New York.
Delapierre is trying to remind himself to enjoy the moment while he's in the thick of competition.
'It's a really special place, with the Statue of Liberty behind you, which is pretty cool,' he told The Athletic.
'Along with Saint-Tropez and Sydney, this is one of the most iconic grands prix of the season. We have the opportunity, just before the races, to do 30 minutes of warm-up; it's kind of the only time we can turn our heads and look around. We're literally racing between the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan, in the middle of the ferries, which is just incredible on a boat going close to 100kmh (62mph).'
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As for the contenders on the bottom half of the leaderboard, all local eyes will be on the United States team to see if Taylor Canfield's crew can earn redemption after a lacklustre showing in both Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Canfield's third-place finish in Dubai at the end of last year proved the U.S. team display better form in non-foiling conditions. So a light-wind, funky forecast could give them a much-needed chance to shine in front of an expectant home crowd.
Saturday, June 7: Race day 1, SailGP Race Stadium
Race times: 3.30pm-5pm ET / 8.30pm-10pm BST
Sunday, June 8: Race day 2, SailGP Race Stadium
Race times: 3.30pm-5pm ET / 8.30pm-10pm BST
Coverage will be live on CBS Sports Network and YouTube in the United States, viewers in the UK can watch it on TNT Sports. More details on how to watch can be found here.