Swiss in San Francisco for SailGP Season 4 Grand Final
by Switzerland SailGP Team 12 Jul 2024 23:20 PDT
13-14 July 2024
Switzerland SailGP Team in action ahead of the SailGP Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco, USA © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
Switzerland SailGP Team race in San Francisco this weekend, at the SailGP Season 4 Grand Final. The high-speed racing action takes place in front of the city's iconic Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island on Saturday and Sunday, from 23:30 CEST/ 14:30 PDT. Season 4 started in June 2023 and San Francisco marks the thirteenth and final event on the calendar.
The Swiss will join nine other national teams to battle it across five fleet races on San Francisco's Bay. Then on Sunday afternoon, the Season's top three placed teams will proceed into the winner-takes-all, $2million Grand Final showdown. New Zealand's Black Foils head into the racing this weekend having already secured their place in the final race.
It will be driver Nathan Outteridge's fifth and last event leading Swiss SailGP Team on the water. He has been supporting SUI in a number of roles since Season 3, including driver, coach and strategist.
Outteridge said: "San Francisco is hands down one of the best sailing venues in the world for the F50s, it's such an amazing venue for racing these boats. We had a pretty good event in New York - a few weeks ago now - and we were second overall after day one. It didn't go quite the way we wanted it to on Sunday, we missed out on making the final, but I can feel that the team's improving in all areas. I'm looking forward to finishing off the season with the Swiss with a good result here.
"It's going to be strong winds this weekend, so small foils and high speeds, we've had a couple of days out on the Bay already and it's full on out there. It's going to be exciting for us sailors and for all the spectators watching."
Lining up alongside Outteridge onboard F50 Eiger is double Olympic medallist, Will Ryan (wing trimmer), François Morvan (flight controller), Laurane Mettraux (strategist) and grinders, Julien Rolaz, Eliot Merceron and Jérémy Bachelin.
Earlier this week SailGP announced its 14-event Season 5 calendar, starting in Dubai on November 23-24 (2024) and concluding in Abu Dhabi on November 29-30 (2025). The Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix | Geneva (20-21 September 2025) is one of four European events and a new venue for the league, alongside Auckland, Germany and Brazil. Click here for the full racing calendar.
SailGP also announced the results of the Season 4 Impact League, the league's Podium for the Planet. Switzerland SailGP Team finishes third overall, close behind Denmark and GBR. Several high-impact initiatives put the Swiss on the podium forefront, including an initiative to collect water from boat washdowns to reuse and recycle, the Inclusive One Sport Regatta and the first all female F50 training session.
Switzerland SailGP Team San Francisco crew line up:
- Nathan Outteridge - Driver
- Will Ryan - Wing trimmer
- François Morvan - Flight controller
- Laurane Mettraux - Strategist
- Julien Rolaz - Grinder (G1)
- Eliot Merceron - Grinder (G1)
- Jérémy Bachelin - Grinder (G2)