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It could not have gone much worse for the USA team at the New Zealand SailGP on January 18-19 in Auckland, New Zealand. They finished last.
While Italy and Brazil finished 6th and 9th, respectively, in their second-ever event, the USA languished at the bottom in their 10th competition.
USA helm Taylor Canfield’s team struggled with Auckland’s unstable sea state and recorded 7-6-10-10-9-8-9 fleet racing results. Noted SailGP broadcast commentator Emily Nagel, the U.S. team “didn’t just come last” but “got beaten by Canada.”
The Canadians were unable race on the second day of the event due to the injury of flight controller Billy Gooderham. The team finished in 11th overall, one spot ahead of the United States.
After the U.S. finished third overall in the Season 5 opener, commentator Stevie Morrison observed how that was “light winds and four crew on the boat. They’ve come to Auckland and it’s six on the boat, big crew and fast, foiling sailing and they’ve finished last.”
Canfield said the team would be “going back to the drawing board in the big breeze conditions. We’ve got to be heads out and looking for intersections around the track because it’s tight and everyone is going so fast, so things are changing quickly. It’s a bit of a shame, but we still know we’ve got more in the tank and we’ve got to keep on pushing.”
The next event is on February 8-9 in Sydney, Australia.
Auckland Final Results
1. Australia, 5-1-2-2-1-2-10-(1), 64 points
2. Spain, 2-4-4-8-5-3-3-(2), 57 points
3. Great Britain, 1-2-9-4-2-4-6-(3), 57 points
4. New Zealand, 4-8-6-1-4-6-2, 46 points
5. Denmark, 6-5-5-5-8-1-1, 44 points
6. Italy, 3-3-7-7-3-9-8, 37 points
7. Switzerland, 11-10-1-3-10-10-4, 28 points
8. Germany, 8-11-11-9-6-7-5, 20 points
9. Brazil, 10-9-8-11-7-5-7, 20 points
10. Canada, 9-7-3-6-11-11-11, 19 points
11. USA, 7-6-10-10-9-8-9, 18 points
Note: France did not take part due to a wingsail issue.
SailGP information – YouTube – Facebook
Season 5 Leaderboard (after 2 of 14 events)*
1. Great Britain, 17 points
2. New Zealand, 17 points
3. Australia, 16 points
4. Spain, 16 points
5. Denmark, 10 points
6. France, 10 points
7. United States, 8 points
8. Switzerland, 6 points
9. Germany, 6 points
10. Canada, 6 points
11. Italy, 5 points
12. Brazil, 3 point
* Ten of the 12 teams are privately owned, with the league having ownership of New Zealand and Spain.
Season 5 Schedule – 14 events
2024
November 23-24 – Dubai, UAE
2025
January 18-19 – Auckland, New Zealand
February 8-9 – Sydney, Australia
March 15-16 – Los Angeles, USA
March 22-23 – San Francisco, USA
May 3-4 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 7-8 – New York City, USA
July 19-20 – Portsmouth, Great Britain
August 16-17 – Sassnitz, Germany
September 6-7 – Taranto, Italy
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain
November 7-8 – Middle East *
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE
* Venue to be announced
Format for Season 5:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Five qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the prize purse (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $400,000.00 USD prize purse with winning team earning $200k at each event).
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $2 million USD prize).
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will get a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had a $350,000.00 prize).
For competition documents, click here.
Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.
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