Storm Ciaran is set to be exceptional, and not in a good way, with winds of 80-90 knots during Wednesday night. Quite rightly, the Transat Jacques Vabre start didn't go as initially planned on Sunday Quite rightly, the Transat Jacques Vabre start didn't go as initially planned on Sunday. Posted today at 6:00 pm Not into the eye of the storm Winning the Flying Fifteen Nationals, the Squib Inlands and runner-up in the Osprey Nationals We chatted with Ben McGrane to find out about the busy schedule he and Hyde Sails had in September in a variety of classes, including the Flying Fifteen Nationals, the 70th Anniversary Osprey Nationals, and the Squib UK Inlands. Related Articles A busy and successful Autumn for Hyde Sails Until this is resolved the teams will be restricted to the 24 metre wings in light winds and sailing with fewer crew onboard to minimise the weight. Maybe the racing would have seen more foiling if the vast 29 metre wings were available, but these are out of action while the SailGP technical team investigate why Peter Burling and Blair Tuke's New Zealand team's wing catastrophically collapsed in St. It's tricky to say whether this tactic was decisive as it was their early gybe after the first mark which was the winning move, benefitting from seeing ROCKWOOL Denmark Team and the Australian SailGP Team fall into a light patch ahead of them. Nicolai Sehested's ROCKWOOL Denmark Team seem to have found a mode which gets them up and away well, winning Races 4 and 5 on Sunday ahead of the top-three shootout, while Jimmy Spithill decided to helm and control the ride-height himself in the final race, putting two sailors on the grinders when sailing with four on board. In the lighter winds teams are developing different strategies for getting the F50s foiling earlier. Tom Slingsby, CEO and driver of Australia SailGP Team, prepares for racing on Race Day 2 of the Spain Sail Grand Prix in Cadiz, Spain - photo © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP This is where one boat has slightly more wind than another, enabling them to get on the foils and travel up to four times faster than their competitors. For sure there are mismatches in sport, but this isn't the case here as the sailors are all top-class. So, while Formula 1 is criticised for predictability, should SailGP be lambasted for its lack thereof?Īfter watching Sunday's racing, I was trying to think of a single other sport where there is a point when competitors can be travelling at such wildly different speeds as foiling and non-foiling boats. Winning the start is regarded as key in sailing, and is also often pivotal in SailGP, but there were times, especially in the three-boat final race in Cádiz, where being behind on the start proved to be advantageous. In marginal foiling conditions errors are amplified and races have the potential to go inside-out repeatedly as the F50s go on and off the foils. This past weekend's Spain Sail Grand Prix in Cádiz, Andalucía showed just how topsy-turvy SailGP can be: winner of the previous two events, Sir Ben Ainslie's Emirates GBR, finished eighth, and Diego Botin's Spain SailGP team won Race 1 and finished last in Race 5, with a compete mix of results in-between.Įmirates Great Britain SailGP Team helmed by Ben Ainslie on Race Day 1 of the Spain Sail Grand Prix in Cadiz, Spain - photo © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP Verstappen's domination is almost total, having won fourteen of this season's seventeen races held so far, with the other drivers openly saying they are competing for second place.Īt first glance, SailGP could be regarded in the same way, with the Australian SailGP Team, helmed by Tom Slingsby, winning all three seasons so far and leading the Season 4 Championship by seven points, but there's a lot more to it. Red Bull's Max Verstappen this season is on 433 points with his team-mate Sergio Perez, his closest rival, an extraordinary 209 points behind. One team, or more often, one driver, dominates the racing. A criticism that is often levelled at Formula 1 motor racing is that it's too predictable.
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