Tough weekend for Switzerland SailGP Team in Taranto
by Switzerland SailGP Team 24 Sep 2023 23:24 PDT
23-24 September 2023
Australia SailGP Team helmed by Tom Slingsby lead the SailGP Fleet on Race Day 1 of the ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix in Taranto, Italy © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
Switzerland SailGP Team raced in Taranto this weekend, at the ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix, the second of three European venues in Season 4. The city delivered a weekend of two halves; yesterday teams battled gusts of 45 km/h on the windiest day of the Season so far but today was light and shifty, with the breeze dropping to just 7 km/h during the final race of the event.
Five fleet races were sailed over the weekend, in front of the city's iconic Castello Aragonese, followed by a three-team winner takes all final.
The Swiss delivered good starts throughout the weekend - a key focus heading into the event - but were unable to execute them into solid results on the scoreboard. The team leaves Taranto frustrated with eighth place overall but fired up to return to the racecourse in just three weeks' time at the Spain Sail Grand Prix, in Cadiz. Ben Ainslie's Emirates GBR picked up the event win, its second consecutive, with Tom Slingsby's Australia and Jimmy Spithill's USA coming in second and third respectively.
Driver Sebastien Schneiter said: "It was quite a difficult regatta. We made some real improvements in our starts, especially on Friday during the official practice racing and yesterday [Race Day 1]. But then today in the light winds we were struggling to get going off the line and made a few errors around the racetrack. So, not a great result overall but for sure some good improvements. It's just tough to put it all together at the moment.
"When the pressure is in the middle, we are quite comfortable, but when it's one of the two extremes it gets a bit harder for us."
CEO Tanguy Cariou said: "It was a tough weekend here in Taranto, The first day was challenging for us in terms of boat handling, pretty windy and gusty and it was difficult for us to follow the pace of the other teams. Then today it was light conditions, we didn't race well and made wrong decisions with our boat mode.
"But now we move forward to Cadiz in three weeks time. We have to regroup, not lose confidence, continue to work together as a team and be focused to progress to where we want to in this league."
The Swiss will return to the racetrack for the Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía Cádiz taking place October 14-15, 15:30 - 17:00 CEST.
Switzerland SailGP Team crew line up for the Italy Sail Grand Prix:
Sébastien Schneiter - Driver
Nathan Outteridge - Strategist and sailing advisor
Glenn Ashby - Wing trimmer
François Morvan - Flight controller
Julien Rolaz - Grinder (G1)
Eliot Merceron - Grinder (G1)
Laurane Mettraux - Grinder (G2)
Nicolas Rolaz - Reserve Athlete
Rockwool Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto Final Standings //
1 // Emirates GBR // 10 points
2 // Australia// 9 points
3 // United States // 8 points
4 // France // 7 points
5 // Canada // 6 points
6 // Spain // 5 points
7 // ROCKWOOL Denmark // 4 points
8 // Switzerland // 3 points*
9 // Germany // 2 points
New Zealand SailGP Team unable to compete at ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto due to wing damage sustained at France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez.
SailGP Season 4 Championship Standings // (after four events)
1 // Australia // 35 points
2 // Emirates GBR // 29 points
3 // Spain // 29 points
4 // ROCKWOOL Denmark // 27 points
5 // New Zealand // 23 points*
6 // United States // 22 points
7 // France // 20 points
8 // Canada // 18 points*
9 // Switzerland // 10 points
10 // Germany // 6 points*
SailGP Season 4 Schedule //
2023
June 16-17 // Rolex United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 22-23 // United States Sail Grand Prix | Los Angeles
September 9-10 // France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 23-24 // Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto
October 14-15 // Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía-Cádiz
2024
January 13-14 // UAE Sail Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi
February 24-25 // KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 23-24 // ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
May 4-5 // Bermuda Sail Grand Prix
June 1-2 // Canada Sail Grand Prix | Venue to be announced
June 22-23 // United States Sail Grand Prix | New York
July 13-14 // SailGP Season 4 Grand Final | San Francisco