Latest news with #OracleSanFranciscoSailGrandPrix
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
SailGP series set to add a second Australia race in Perth
Australia SailGP Team helmed by Tom Slingsby are attended to by their support boat after their main wing broke during racing on Race Day 2 of the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix in San Francisco, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Simon Bruty/SailGP via AP) SYDNEY (AP) — The SailGP international series will add another Australian race next year at the former America's Cup venue near Perth on the west coast. SailGP organizers on Thursday said the race in Western Australia state will be held at Fremantle, south of Perth, next January but have not announced the dates. Advertisement Fremantle hosted the 1987 America's Cup race when the American challenger Stars & Stripes 87, sailed by Dennis Conner, won back the oldest trophy in sport that Australia had captured in historic fashion in 1983 off Newport, Rhode Island, breaking a then-American monopoly on it. The Perth race will be followed in February by the seventh SailGP race on Sydney harbor. Britain won this year's edition of the race in Sydney in February. The Sydney dates for 2026 also have not been announced. Spain won the most recent SailGP race in San Francisco in March. This year there are 12 national teams racing. The series features identical high-tech, high-speed 50-foot foiling catamarans. After Perth and Sydney next year, races are planned in Rio de Janeiro, Bermuda, New York, Halifax (Canada), Britain, France and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. ___ AP sports:
The Guardian
24-03-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Moment that Australia SailGP wingsail collapses
Disaster unfolded at the start of the seventh fleet race of the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix on Sunday when Australia suffered a dramatic wing collapse as they approached the line in the start box. All athletes were accounted for and physically unharmed. The cause of the incident is not yet clear.
New York Times
24-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Spain clinches San Francisco SailGP win as Australia weathers wing failure at start of final race
SAN FRANCISCO — Spain's victory in the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix makes Diego Botin's team the fifth winner in the five events we've seen so far in Season 5. However, Australia's wingsail shattering into pieces in the last few seconds before the start of the final 11-boat fleet race was a heart-in-mouth moment for the crowds watching from the San Francisco shore, not to mention for the sailors themselves. Never were they more grateful for their crash helmets and impact vests. Advertisement 'A scary situation,' said the usually unflappable Aussie driver Tom Slingsby moments after the incident. 'When something like that happens, all you think about is hoping everyone is going to get through this. Fortunately, we're all safe. That's the first priority. Now we're just going to try to save the boat as best we can. A big salvage operation happening here.' Wing failure onboard Australia 🤯 Happy to account for no injuries onboard, the cause of the incident is not yet known #SailGP — SailGP (@SailGP) March 23, 2025 Unlike the hapless Danes, whose self-inflicted damage from last weekend's event in Los Angeles meant they were unable to repair the boat in time for San Francisco, there is at least a six-week gap before the next SailGP event in Rio de Janeiro. So the Australians should have ample opportunity to get the wing and the boat repaired in good time. Struggling to get his head straight after such a calamity, Slingsby could barely take in the good news when he learned that, despite their disaster, the Australians move to the top of the season leaderboard. 'I got to my phone and the first message was from my dad saying, 'Sorry to see everything that happened, but you're now on top of the leaderboard.' I don't really know how that works, but anyway, a lot to process right now.' It turns out Slingsby Sr. is correct, though. The results of San Francisco have shuffled around the top of the leaderboard and tightened up the points, too. Australia has displaced Great Britain from the top by a single point, with Spain's victory elevating it into third place, just 3 points off the lead. New Zealand is a single point behind Spain with Canada just another point back in fifth. France, in sixth overall, would have further closed the gap on the front-runners had Quentin Delapierre been able to capitalize on a barnstorming start in the three-boat final. The French were only there because broken Australia was unable to make the final. As a gesture of goodwill, team boss Bruno Dubois offered the use of the French boat to the Aussies, but there simply wasn't the time to make that happen within the strict confines of the broadcast window. Advertisement Across the two days, Delapierre executed great starts and showed excellent downwind speed, but upwind the French were a click slower than their Canadian and Spanish rivals in the three-boat final. France continued to lead on the first upwind leg as it kept a close eye on Canada in towards the San Francisco shore. However, Botin opted for the opposite turning mark on the Alcatraz side of the course. From the outside, the Spanish move simply looked like a classic example of rolling the dice and trying something different from the leaders. But after the trophy and champagne spraying in front of the crowd, Botin told The Athletic that opting for Alcatraz had been part of the pre-race strategy. 'We saw in the previous races that the Aussies made a huge gain on us by taking that turn,' he said. 'Joan (Cardona) our tactician spotted that there is good current on that side at the bottom of the course. So I think the (favorable) current helped, and it was also the best course for connecting the dots further up the track.' This was a confidence-boosting victory for the Spanish, whose winning form from Season 4 has somewhat eluded the tight-knit team at recent events. They have re-established themselves as serious contenders for another season victory. The British, on the other hand, suffered a wobble this weekend. 🪄El ultimo truco de Los Gallos para remontar en la final y poner rumbo a la primera victoria de la temporada.#SanFranciscoSGP #SailGP #SailGPESP #VamosGallos #Adrenaline #Sailing #Racing — Spain SailGP Team (@SailGPESP) March 24, 2025 Dylan Fletcher has looked unstoppable since inheriting the driver's role from Giles Scott after his departure to Canada. After missing out on the three-boat final by a single point last weekend in Los Angeles, the British were nowhere close in San Francisco. They finished in seventh place, 11 points behind the Swiss, who were enjoying their best event yet, and only a few points in front of the two rookie teams for this season, Italy and Brazil. Even so, Fletcher refused to be downbeat about the slump in British fortunes. 'We always knew SailGP was going to be a bit of a roller coaster,' he said. 'I think that if someone had said at the start of the season, we'd be five events in and a point off the lead, we'd have snapped their hand off.' Advertisement Finishing at the back of the fleet was the U.S. team that continues to struggle to make up ground on its more experienced rivals. Taylor Canfield and his teammates had spent the days in between the two race weekends working hard and being put through their paces at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center in Santa Monica. Canfield said it had been an eye-opening, inspiring few days, but what the Americans need more than ever is more time training on the F50 boat. They have a long, hard road ahead of them. (Photo of Australia's boat courtesy of Simon Bruty for SailGP)
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
SFFD: Don't fly drones at Sail Grand Prix races
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) is warning sailing fans to not operate drones during this weekend's Sail Grand Prix (SailGP) races. Get your latest weather report The Rolex SailGP Championship, which brings teams competing from all over the globe, and the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix occur back-to-back respectively on Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 along the Marina Green. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, SFFD wrote, 'Are you going to see the sailboat races at Marina Green on Sunday 03/23/2025? Drones are prohibited.' Officials confirmed that the event area is an Air Exclusion Zone, meaning unauthorized drones are banned 'in the vicinity of the event site and near the water race course.' The major concern is drones are potentially dangerous for helicopters that are operating in the area. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
22-03-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
SailGP brings high-intensity catamaran racing back to San Francisco Bay
For one high-octane weekend, the San Francisco Bay is once again transforming into one of the fastest and most dynamic racetracks in the world for the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix . Towering hydrofoil sailboats, capable of reaching speeds over 60 miles per hour, will slice through the water in what has become more than just a sailing competition — it's a spectacle of technology, athleticism, and strategy. At the heart of Team USA 's campaign in the SailGP series is Hans Henken, a Stanford University graduate and aeronautical engineer who has returned to waters that feel like home. "San Francisco is an amazing venue. It kind of has every aspect a sailor wants, it has really challenging conditions, it has beautiful geography, it has the current, everything you could possibly ask for in a sailboat race it definitely has here," Henken told CBS News Bay Area. Henken's background in aeronautical engineering is no coincidence. The multi-million-dollar catamarans used in SailGP are closer to aircraft than traditional sailboats. They rise above the surface of the water on hydrofoils, reducing drag and pushing the limits of what's possible on water. "We're still utilizing the wind to go up wind, downwind, tack, and jibe," Henken explained. "But the sailing we're doing at SailGP is at the highest level. It's the most technologically advanced boats, the most challenging boats to sail and the speeds is probably what makes the biggest difference. On top of obviously the technology and the hydro-foiling." A recent bronze medalist in the Paris Olympics, Henken is aiming for the top of the podium in SailGP — and doing it in front of a home crowd as his Santa Rosa-based parents cheer him on from the stands. Racing on the unpredictable waters of San Francisco Bay requires split-second decisions, precise coordination with teammates, and the ability to read the ever-changing wind and wave conditions. "It's really flat over there and starting to get choppy," Henken said ahead of a practice run Friday. "That's going to play a big role for sure." But for Henken and his fellow sailors, SailGP is about more than just crossing the finish line first. It represents the future of sailing. The Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix takes place this weekend.
