Sailing-Bigger and Faster, SailGP Back where it all Began In Sydney

By Nick Mulvenney

SYDNEY, Feb 7 (Reuters) – SailGP go back to where everything started in Sydney this weekend and six years on from the inaugural race, co-founder Russell Coutts sees an intense future for the innovative international sailing league.

An Olympic champion and skipper of three Americas Cup-winning boats, Coutts partnered with Larry Ellison, pediascape.science the billionaire creator of the Oracle software application company, to introduce the series with six groups all owned by the league.

While the inaugural season which started in Sydney in February 2019 included just 5 rounds, this weekend’s race will be the third round of 13 the now 12-strong fleet will contest on the 2025-26 schedule.

„It’s just remarkable, in fact, the uptake and number of occasions now,“ SailGP president Coutts told Reuters at the Sydney Opera House on Friday.

„We’re certainly sitting at 13, and aiming to increase that over the next seasons to someplace around 20. If you compare that to Formula One that has 24, that’s sort of where we wish to get to. So yeah, the future appearances excellent.“

The idea of Formula One on water is implicit in the league’s name and the comparison is not far from the mark when the world’s best sailors push the F50 foiling catamarans to their limits at what are spectacular speeds for waterborne vessels.

„We didn’t set out to just appeal to the passionate sailing fan, we attempt to make this sport reasonable and explainable for all sports fans,“ Coutts included.

„The majority of our fans are not avid sailors, and that is among the factors why we have actually grown so rapidly. We are attracting individuals that much like enjoying a race, they don’t have to understand anything about sailboats.“

A bumper crowd of 25,000 ticketed fans ended up to watch Tom Slingsby’s Australia group win the 2nd round of the series in Auckland last month.

„I think you’ll see numerous of our occasions this year now like that, maybe even topping that,“ said Coutts, a 62-year-old New Zealander.

„The most important thing is the fans watching on broadcast … however the fan experience on site is also essential. We desire fans to come and have a good time and see some great racing.“

Technological innovation is essential to SailGP and numerous countless information points are communicated from the boats to the Oracle Cloud for the usage of race organisers, groups and to assist broadcasters enhance the audience experience.

360 DEGREE VIEW

Coutts is delighted about some more developments coming online as Artificial Intelligence is progressively employed to overcome the mountain of data.

„The huge advancement for us going forward is the 360 degree view from on board the boat, with listening to the group comms,“ he said.

„The viewer will be taken on board and trip together with the Australian group in a race, and have the ability to browse any place they want. That’s the future.“

There have, of course, been obstacles over the 6 years with the second season disrupted by the and disgaeawiki.info race days still in some cases at the grace of wind conditions.

A lack of F50s meant the French group was unable to compete at this year’s season-opening race in Dubai and damage to the boat once they got it ruled them out of the Auckland leg.

The full fleet of 12 boats will therefore race for the very first time this weekend and among the most pleasing aspects for Coutts is that all however one of the groups are, funsilo.date or soon will be, privately owned or run.

„These groups are now offering for $50 million, I would never have anticipated that this early,“ said Coutts, who plans to bring another couple of teams on board next year.

„We understood that that was the entire way the design was established, that group owners would be able to trade their teams and hopefully generate income out of it, however I didn’t think we ‘d attain it this early. That’s been a nice surprise.“ (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Michael Perry)