SailGP celebrates its fifth season, Vendee Globe news, Sailing Grand Slam revealed
by David Schmidt 20 Nov 05:00 NZDT
November 19, 2024
SailGP is expanding with more teams in Season 5 beginning in November © SailGP
While much of the global sailing news cycle is (rightly) focused on the Vendee Globe fleet, which left Les Sables d'Olonne, France, on November 10 bound for a planetary lap via the three great capes, SailGP is also having a moment. For the first time in this professional sailing league's history (established 2019), SailGP is seeing transfer deals, new technologies, a packed Season 5 calendar, and more teams than ever competing. This international foiling circus is due to put on the season's first show this coming weekend (November 23-24) on the waters off of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
Eleven teams, flying American, Australian, Brazilian, British, Canadian, Danish, French, German, Kiwi, Spanish, and Swiss flags, are set to compete at Season 5's first event. (N.B., it's expected that a 12th team, flying the Italian flag, will be joining the league for Season 5, however few details are known as of this writing.)
Teams will be crewed by some of the biggest names in sailing, including Martine Grael, the Brazilian double Olympic gold medalist, who is making history as the league's first woman driver for the brand-new Brazilian team, and Giles Scott, the British double Olympic gold medalist, who made history as the first SailGP athlete to engage in a transfer deal from the British team to the Canadian team, the latter of which is now under new ownership and management.
Also new to the Season 5 fold is Dylan Fletcher, the British Olympic gold medalist, Moth World Champion, and co-helm of INEOS Team Britannia's recent America's Cup bid, who will helm the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team boat. Fletcher, it will be remembered, drove the UK-flagged boat in SailGP's inaugural season.
"I'm buzzing to be back sailing the F50 again. Since Season 1 a lot has changed for me with winning Olympic gold in Tokyo, the Moth World Championships and most recently co-helming with Ben Ainslie in the 37th America's Cup," Fletcher said in an official SailGP communication. "The SailGP format of 12 boats racing around a really short course at incredible speeds in amazing venues is a dream really. We will be taking on some of the best sailors in the world but I'm joining a seriously talented team and looking forward to the challenge ahead."
New technologies also abound for Season 5 aboard the league's identical F50 catamarans. This includes the new T-shaped foils, which replace the older L-shaped foils, and electric motors, which will be used to help the boats get onto their foils in light-air conditions.
All told, the 11 (hopefully 12) teams will compete in 14 events, with Season 5's Grand Final set to unfurl a year from now (November 29-30, 2025), also on the waters off of Dubai. In total, there will be three Middle East events this season, however North American fans will be able to see the racing action in Los Angeles (March 15-16, 2025), San Francisco (March 22-23, 2025), and New York (June 7-8, 2025).
As mentioned, Season 5 racing is set to commence this weekend, so be sure to stay current with the website in the lead up to the first starting guns.
Offshore action has also been intense in the singlehanded Vendee Globe Race, which started off with 40 boats. Now, less than two weeks into this around-the-world race, the fleet has been winnowed to 39, following skipper Maxime Sorel's (V and B - Monbana - Mayenne) abandonment on November 15, courtesy of a bad injury and troubles with his mainsail track.
"My ankle has been seriously damaged for four days," Sorel said in an official Vendeee Globe communication. "It has only swollen over time and because of the maneuvers I have carried out on board, particularly to try to fix my major mainsail hook issues. I am suffering to the point of having difficulty moving on board my boat. Now, even when resting, I have a lot of pain, I cannot continue to sail in complete safety in this state."
Word has also emerged that Hungarian skipper Szabolcs Weöres, sailing aboard New Europe, sustained serious damage to his A7 kite (now gone) and mainsail, and has made a pit stop in Las Palmas to make repairs and inspect the rest of his inventory. Provided that his remaining kit looks good, he plans to rejoin the race.
At the front of the pack, and as of this writing, British-flagged skipper Sam Goodchild (Vulnerable) is leading the hunt by a thin margin (read: about 10 nautical miles), ahead of Sebastian Simon (FRA), who is sailing aboard Groupe Dubreuil, and Jean Le Cam (FRA), who is sailing aboard Tout Commence En Finistre - Armor-Lux. The leaders are off the coast of Mauritania, sailing in light airs.
Sail-World wishes all 39 still-competing skippers the best of luck as they press on with their bold around-the-world mission, and we certainly wish Mr. Sorel a fast recovery.
And finally, in Olympic sailing news, word has broken about the Sailing Grand Slam series, which is comprised of five international major Olympic class regattas in the buildup to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. According to reports, these include the Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofia, the Semaine Olympique Française, the Dutch Water Week, Kiel Week, and the Long Beach Olympic Classes Regatta.
"The Sailing Grand Slam marks a major milestone for Olympic sailing," said Dirk Ramhorst, the head of Kiel Week, in an official report. "For the first time, the world's most prestigious regattas are united and showcased on a single platform. At Kiel Week, we are honored and excited to be part of this ambitious project. Together with World Sailing and the other event organizers, we aim to actively shape the future of sailing and elevate the international profile of our sport."
While 2028 may be a distant waypoint from our current vantage in late 2024, you can bet your last roll of duct tape that the world's best Olympic class sailors are already pressing hard towards earning their berth to the next Olympic Games.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor