Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team and shore crew celebrate with the Impact League trophy, Golden Wheel Trophy and Rolex SailGP Championship trophy at their Hanger - photo © Andrew Baker for SailGP
Dear Recipient Name
The Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team made history on the waters off of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, last weekend when they became the third team in SailGP's five-season history to win the professional sailing league's championship title and its accompanying $2M-plus prize purse. Better still, the British-flagged team was also the first team in SailGP's history to win its double crown, taking home the top prize in the Impact League. This "podium for the planet" competition that challenges teams to create projects, alongside their Purpose Partners, that address environmental and social concerns.
The weekend started with fleet racing, with all teams using the new 27.5-meter wingsails, which were developed for light-air venues including the Middle East.
While the season's three top-rated teams progressed to Sunday's winner-takes-all $2M championship title race, these teams were nowhere to be seen in the weekend's fleet racing standings.
Instead, the Danish-flagged Rockwool Racing SailGP team won the weekend's fleet racing, marking their first-ever event win. They were joined on the podium by the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team and the France SailGP team.
The Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix Season Grand Final race, however, was a different kind of affair, with the British-flagged team squaring off against the Australian-flagged BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team, who won SailGP's first three championship titles, and the New Zealand-flagged Black Foils SailGP Team, for the $2M prize purse and the season's title.
While the Brits found themselves sitting in third place on the fourth leg of the winner-takes-all Grand Final, they managed to fight their way back up to the front of the pack, eventually splitting gates with the Kiwis, who—at the time—looked to be in control of the conversation, on the final uphill leg.
This move spelled victory for the British-flagged team in a race that had seen all three of the teams in the pole position at least once during the nine-minute affair.
"Everything was incredibly stressful - like we were up against the best sailors in the world," said Dylan Fletcher, who is the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team's driver, in an official SailGP post-racing communication. "Even though the Grand Final teams hadn't performed great this weekend, we were all managing our own little battles ourselves. So when it came down to it - I think you saw testament to how close it is at the top. Any one of us could have won that race and I'm very happy it was us."
Driver Tom Slingsby and his BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team managed to edge out the Kiwis near the finishing line to finish the Grand Final in second place.
While this was some great sailing by the Roos, it should be noted that Peter Burling, who is the Black Foils' driver, sustained a bad cut to his finger during a run-in with a daggerboard during a training race last Wednesday.
All told, the Brits collected $2.4M on Sunday, as they picked up another $400K for finishing Season 5 with the most number of points, and a cool $4.4M in total Season 5 prize money (N.B., teams also win money for podium finishes at regular-season events); while the Black Foils collected $1.76M and the Roos pouched (sorry, bad pun intended) $1.2M.
While the prize purse for the Impact League is much smaller than the racing winnings, the British team's efforts also helped earn some money for their Purpose Partner, the 1851 Trust.
"I'm so proud of the team, both on and off the water," said Sir Ben Ainslie, who is the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team's principal and CEO. "It's been a long season with plenty of highs and lows, but to finish in such strong fashion—to win the Impact League, win the season outright, and then win the Grand Final—it's a huge achievement. The team has been brilliant."
Sail-World sends our congratulations to the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team, both for their great on-the-water win, and for their strong work in the Impact League. We also raise our glasses to the Aussies, who finished Season 5's on-the-water racing in second place and in tenth place (out of 12 teams) in the Impact League (ahem), and to the Kiwis, who finished Season 5 in third place and who landed in sixth place in the Impact League.
And while we applaud SailGP for their great work creating the Impact League, we encourage the forward-leaning professional sailing league to further caffeinate their "podium for the planet" competition by increasing the size of the Impact League's prize purse to a number with at least seven digits (N.B., a total of $150,000 was award for the Impact League across the entire season, compared with $12M for Season 5's on-the-water racing purse).
Finally, in offshore sailing news, skipper Alexia Barrier, first officer Dee Caffari, and their crew of six other top-shelf women sailors aboard The Famous Project CIC, have begun their efforts to win the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation record.
French skipper Francis Joyon and crew set the current record of 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds on January 26, 2017, aboard the maxi trimaran IDEC Sport.
Barrier and company are sailing this same offshore weapon, aboard which they will face the world's three great capes, plus tens of thousands of miles of open ocean.
Interestingly, this marks the first time since 1998 that an all-female team has taken on the challenge of attempting to set an around-the-world circumnavigation speed record. The last all-women's attempt was led by no other than the great Tracy Edwards, however the team was sadly dismasted about 2,000 miles from Cape Horn.
Sail-World wishes all aboard The Famous Project CIC great luck, speed, and safety in their attempts to rewrite the history books.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor
|