A weekend of foundation building for the Switzerland SailGP Team
by Switzerland SailGP Team 6 May 00:03 PDT
4-5 May 2024
Switzerland SailGP Team helmed by Nathan Outteridge ahead of France SailGP Team helmed by Quentin Delapierre as spectators watch from the grandstand in the Race Stadium on Race Day 1 of the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix in Bermuda © Samo Vidic for SailGP
Bermuda delivered a solid weekend of racing, with fantastic sailing and picture-perfect conditions. Five short sharp fleet races were sailed on the Great Sound, followed by the three-team winner-takes-all final. It was weekend of two halves on the water for Switzerland SailGP Team, led by new driver Nathan Outteridge. Yesterday, race day one, the Swiss started well and were in the hunt, but falling back from the pack. The team moved forward today, sailing a flawless first race and leading the charge from start to finish, taking its second race win of Season 4 so far. The crew finish the weekend in Bermuda 7th overall.
Botin's Spanish team took the event win, keeping their cool to beat the Black Foils and Team Australia in the final race of the day.
Bermuda was only Outteridge's second Sail Grand Prix behind the Swiss wheel and the focus heading into the event was to continue building the team's foundations, maximising any time on the water.
He said: "It was awesome to have a race win here in Bermuda in today. We had a bit of a tough day yesterday in the pack and getting bounced around so to have a really good start in race one, and get a win on the board, was awesome and meant a lot to the whole team. We backed it up with a pretty decent race in the next one too. We had a slightly out of control start but were in the pack and mixing it up but held it together much better than we did yesterday so, overall, it's been a good weekend."
"I think every second that we are sailing together we are learning something and getting better and that's the most important thing. Results are something we are obviously focused on because it's a competition, but the main point is we are just trying to build the foundations of the sailing skills within the team.
"Between every race we were still sailing and doing laps out there because we've got all these hours to catch up on. For us to come here to Bermuda and do as much training as we could and get a race win made it a very successful weekend."
Switzerland SailGP Team will take the momentum forward to Canada next month, for the first ever ROCKWOOL Canada Sail Grand Prix in Halifax, June 1-2.
Switzerland SailGP Team crew line up:
Nathan Outteridge - Driver
Will Ryan - Wing trimmer
Nicolas Rolaz - Flight controller
Laurane Mettraux - Strategist
Julien Rolaz - Grinder (G1)
Eliot Merceron - Grinder (G1)
Jérémy Bachelin - Grinder (G2)
Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix // Final Standings //
1 // Spain 10 points
2 // New Zealand 9 points
3 // Australia 8 points
4 // Canada 7 points
5 // ROCKWOOL Denmark 6 points
6 // Germany 5 points
7 // Switzerland 4 points
8 // Emirates Great Britain 3 points
9 // France 2 points
10 // United States 1 points
SailGP Season 4 Championship Standings (After ten events) //
1 // New Zealand 77 points
2 // Australia 67 points
3 // Spain 65 points
4 // ROCKWOOL Denmark 56 points
5 // France 56 points
6 // Canada 53 points
7 // United States 49 points
8 // Emirates GBR 848 points
9 // Germany 32 points
10 // Switzerland 26 points