Please select your home edition
Edition
Rooster 2025

SailGP Season 3 Championships and The Ocean Race update

by David Schmidt 10 May 2023 01:00 AEST May 9, 2023
Australia SailGP Team celebrate winning the Mubadala SailGP Season 3 Grand Final on Race Day 2 of the Mubadala SailGP Season 3 Grand Final in San Francisco, USA. Sunday 7th May © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

While the America's Cup represents the pinnacle of inshore, fully crewed sailboat racing, SailGP just might offer fiercer competition. This is largely due to two important factors: The numbers of teams competing (nine versus six), and the amount of time that each team gets to race their yachts (much more with SailGP). While many of the same skippers and sailors participate in both events, the sailors I talked with at SailGP 2022's Season Two Championships all spoke of the Cup as a long, multi-year grind towards developing a better mousetrap, followed by some great racing; these same sailors describe SailGP as the place to be if the goal is to log a huge amount of sailing and racing time aboard some of the world's fastest foiling yachts.

This past weekend's SailGP Season Three Championships (May 6 and 7), which took place on the waters of San Francisco Bay, is a great example of the level of competition that SailGP has created.

After seven races, including the winner-takes-all Grand Final, skipper Tom Slingsby and his Australia SailGP Team racked up their third SailGP season championship win, collecting the championship purse (over $1M, USD) and etching their names onto the SailGP trophy once again. While this reflects the fact that the top of the fleet is fairly consolidated, with Australia and New Zealand taking first and second place finishes, a look deeper on the results page reveals how competitive this league has become.

Case-in-point: Jimmy Spithill, a two-time America's Cup winning skipper, and his United States SailGP Team finished Season Three in seventh place in the nine-boat fleet, while Peter Burling, also a two-time Cup winning skipper, and his New Zealand SailGP Team finished in second place.

In fact, even Ben Ainslie (GBR), who is history's most decorated Olympic sailor, and his Great Britain SailGP Team had to settle for a third-place finish in Season Three's Grand Final, on the same weekend that his country crowned a new monarch, and a third-place finish overall for the season.

But, as mentioned, SailGP's reigning kings, skipper Tom Slingsby and his Australia SailGP Team, maintained their grip on the trophy, beating both the Kiwi and the British teams to claim the cash and third-time-sweet bragging rights.

Ultimately, however, things almost went pear-shaped for Slingsby when the team came off their foils as they approached the finishing line. This potentially opened the door for Burling and his New Zealand SailGP Team to snatch their prize in the winner-takes-all Grand Final, however Slingby and company were not done fighting.

"The current was picking up and the wind really died off," said Slingsyby in an official SailGP report. "It was a really solid, steady breeze all race and then on the last upwind, it just started flaking out and became more patchy—I guess I didn't react to that as well as I could have."

This called for an immediate tack, which the Aussie's pulled off in the nick of time.

Pop the Champaign, and queue the Season Three celebrations.

(Slingsby, it should be noted, holds American and Australian passports, and was signed by American Magic for the 37thAmerica's Cup in last May.)

Meanwhile, in offshore sailing news, the teams racing in Leg Four of The Ocean Race continue their push from Itajai, Brazil to Newport, Rhode Island. As of this writing (Monday morning, U.S. West Coast time), skipper Charlie Enright and his 11th Hour Racing squad are in the pole position, followed some 25 nautical miles later by skipper Will Harris's Team Malizia and skipper Paul Mielhat's Biotherm.

But, with over 550 nautical miles of brine still left to ply, the ballgame still has plenty of innings left, especially given that the fleet was preparing for rough weather, a Gulf Stream crossing, and upwards of 50 knots of air (again, at the time of this writing).

"I think the whole fleet will get tested," said Amory Ross, who works as the onboard reporter aboard 11th Hour Racing, in an official report. "We're making sure we're prepared going into this and the boat is in good shape. This will be the most wind we have seen all leg. We haven't even had a reef in since we left Brazil."

Similar predictions echo across the fleet.

"We are going into a small low pressure, with very strong wind, probably around 50 knots at one stage," said Team Malizia's Nico Lunven, in an official communication. "Not for very long, but quite extreme. The sea state should not be too bad, I think, because it's a new system so it shouldn't have had time to develop."

While it's fair to say that all teams stand a significant chance of getting shaken, not stirred, as they push for Rhode Island, odds are one-hundred percent that the sailing-obsessed city of Newport stands ready to welcome the fleet with memorable stopover celebrations.

According to reports, the fleet is expected to make landfall sometime on Wednesday (May 10), so sailors who live within reach of Narragansett Bay are advised that this might be an excellent time to start making VMG towards Newport.

STOP THE PRESSES! Roughly 12 hours after this editorial was written, word arrived that GUYOT environnement was dismasted some 600 nautical miles east of Newport. All crew members are reportedly safe. This leaves just three boats racing to Newport, and it adds complication for any team trying to amass scoreboard points. Stay tuned to the website for more on this story, as it becomes known.

May the four winds blow you safely home.

David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor

Related Articles

The power of tech
What is the cost of safety? How do you measure it? More importantly, how do you appreciate it? What is the cost of safety? How do you measure it? More importantly, how do you appreciate it? Posted on 2 Jul
Some thoughts on provisioning for distance sailing
A new perspective on provisioning and time spent at sea One of the great joys of distance racing unfurls the moment that the dock lines are untied. Suddenly, the myriad packing lists that inevitably define most trip-planning efforts become about as relevant as a tax return from eight years ago. Posted on 1 Jul
Jazz Turner completes Project FEAR
Drama right to the end in her non-stop, solo, unassisted navigation of the British Isles Jazz Turner has completed Project FEAR, her non-stop, solo, unassisted navigation of the British Isles in her Albin 27 yacht. A flotilla of supporters met her in Seaford Bay, which grew and grew the closer they came to Brighton Marina. Posted on 1 Jul
A brief history of marine instrument networks
Hugh Agnew has been involved since the outset, and continues to develop at the cutting edge One man who has been involved since the outset, and continues to develop at the cutting edge, is Hugh Agnew, the Cambridge-educated mathematician who is one of the founders of A+T Instruments in Lymington, so I spoke to him to find out more... Posted on 25 Jun
Sailing and the summer solstice
Celebrating sailing and the longest day of the year If you love long evenings and early mornings, this is one of the best times of the whole year, as the summer solstice (Friday, June 20) and the entire rich expanse of summer are about to burst into bloom. Posted on 17 Jun
Video Review: The Amazing Cure 55
Composite Construction meets Cruising Convenience It was two years ago at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show that I talked to Dave Biggar about his ideas and plans for the Cure 55. At the 2025 show I got to step on board the yacht and see how his ideas became reality. Posted on 17 Jun
The Big Bash
Every summer the tournament rolls into town. A short format of the game. Fun and excitement abound. Every summer the tournament rolls into town. Local and international players. A short format of the game, run over a relatively compact six-week season. Posted on 15 Jun
The oldest video footage of Kiel Week
A look back into our video archive at the Kieler Woche of the 60s and early 70s In our series of articles looking back in time through our video archive, we visit Germany. Kiel Week is been a crucial event on the world circuit, and here we look back at the Kieler Woche of the 60s and early 70s. Posted on 15 Jun
Nick Olson on PredictWind's newest features
Nick Olson discusses PredictWind's newest features PredictWind has long been a leader in presenting high-quality marine forecasts. Nick Olson discusses the company's newest features. Posted on 12 Jun
The X-Yachts Gold Cup Experience
A celebration of sailing, of X-Yachts and, most importantly of all, people Having just returned from Haderslev, Denmark - which is the home of X-Yachts and played host to the X-Yachts Gold Cup 2025 - I was left wondering if this was a racing event, a rally or a social celebration amongst close friends. Posted on 10 Jun
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 350sMRT AIS Man Overboard Beacons AUS / NZX-Yachts X4.3