SailGP Racing so far this summer

With FunToSAIL.com recent purchase of the Malbec18 production I have not had a lot of time to follow SAILGP racing and with Team USA poor results I have not had much interest in watching. To be honest the whole Team USA poor results thing I think it's time to fire all of them. I know that sounds harsh, but they have consistently finished in last place or near last place in every race. Team USA needs to be revitalized. Heck even team Brazil that is totally new team is beating them. There comes a time when one has to say, enough is enough. In any other sport they would have been fired a long time ago. I would not be surprised if SailGP management forces their hand on the team and eliminates them. Sorry, to go on about this, but it's frustrating to watch, actually I am now not watching.

I hope one day they change from countries as teams and goes the way of Nascar, where teams have their star driver and team members with various sponsors, that would be a better format where one can get into the racing without the country affiliation drama.

Racing just finished in the UK with Team New Zealand winning this series, with the Bristish taking second and team Switzerland in 3rd place in the series final. Great racing with Team USA as always in the back of the pack.

2026 Season venues have been announced. They have dropped racing in San Fransico (who wants to go to crap and drug city) with the only racing in the USA at New York City. I have no interest in going to this city due to all its crime. It is my hope someday that racing in the USA will take place in Florida, then I will go and watch. Nice warm weather and great wind.

Here is the final thoughts videos... Watch the full racing videos at SailGP.com or youtube/sailgp

SailGP Racing Live

 

 

SailGP Racing Results

   

SailGP first race for Season 4 took place in Chicago Illinois USA, New Zealand won this series over its close rival Australia (overall winner for 3 seasons) who took 2nd place, followed by Canada (3rd) with skipper Phil Robinson (not Canadian). Phil is one of my favorite sailors. Team USA like always struggled to be consistent finishing 9th overall out of 10 boats. I hope at some point Team USA can figure out what they are doing wrong.

Next top is Saint-Tropez France on September 9-10, 2023. 

RACING DAY 1 AND 2

Day 1 and 2 Highlights... Watch the full days of racing on their youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@SailGP

- - Make a comment - -

SailGP Chicago 2022

SailGP came to Chicago for the first time on June 18-19 and was also the first time the F50's have raced on fresh water. The result was the same as many races before with Tom Slingsby and his all-Australia team winning again. Canada with their Australian skipper/driver Phil Robertson came in 2nd with great results throughout the weekend of racing, followed closely by Great Britain, with it's full British team skippered by Sir Ben Ainslie.

What many are wondering is what in the world is going on with team USA skippered by Jimmy Spithill. They finished 8th overall and never seemed to get good starts or good overall speed, etc. If they cannot get their better results, there certainly will be changes on that team.

Chicago turned out to be an ideal location for racing with its near shore stadium racing and large enthusiastic crowd. SailGP will certainly return in 2023.

If you missed the racing watch here...

 

 

SailGP Bermuda 2022

 

The new 2022/23 SailGP season started this last weekend (May 14-15) with a bang. This new season there are 10 boats instead of 8 making starts and mark rounding's certainly more exciting. With ten 50-foot foiling catamarans all trying to hit the start at the same time it made for some interesting viewing.

Team USA is in the top 5, still not keeping pace with the Australian (1st overall) and the top teams. Team Canada skippered by Phil Robertson from New Zealand showed some excellent skill getting 2nd overall, and Team Great Britian 3rd overall. I am always rooting for team USA, but they certainly need to kick it up a notch or two if they are to be seasonal final in 2023.

Here is a high light video. Visit SailGP.com to watch the full racing videos.

 

FINAL RESULTS: 2022 Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix | Day 1 & Day 2

Season 2 is done, and team Australia won it all again (2nd time). What is their key to success? 1. They hit the starts of each race typically full speed on their foils and with a few seconds to spare after the start gun goes off, whereas the other teams seem to want to hit the start like a monohull right as the gun goes off not at full speed. 2. Australia's top speed is consistently faster than the other teams, meaning they have their boat dialed in better than the others. Until the other teams do better in these 2 areas Australia will continue to win.

My hat is off to team USA as they had major challenges this season due to other boats seeming to run into them over and over, which happened again on that last day before the final. Luckily the damage to team USA's boat was repairable before the final.

Team Japan got 2nd in the final race again (3 teams qualify for the big final). They also are a consistent team. Let's hope next year more teams will be dialed in and learn from team Australia.

This year there were 8 teams racing but next year there will be 10, make for even more exiting racing.

Season 3 (2022-23) starts very quickly this May 14-15 (2022) in Bermuda, then in June in Chicago, and so on finishing again in San Francisco on May 6-7, 2023. Learn more by staying tuned here at FunToSAIL.com or for even more information at SailGP.com 

 

  

SailGP Team USA capsize

Today (3/22/22) while all the SailGP teams were out practicing on San Fransico Bay for this weekend's grand final Team USA capsized as seen in this video. All on board were ok and the boats is not damaged.

January 2022 Club Activity

Fellow Hobie, Malbec, Daysailor, trailer-able Sportboat/Keelboata, Inland NW sailors (that was a mouth full) on January 8 at 6:pm at the Silver Lake Mall FunToSAIL store in Coeur d'Alene Idaho we are having our first sailing activity of the year. We will be watching some SailGP racing and enjoying each others company. Plus talking a bit about the new year activities, etc.

Click on the Comment word link at the end of this post to let us know if you will be attending. I Miles Moore will be there!

Here is a great video of Hobie Island sailors getting together. We will have similar activities in 2022 that will also include sailors aboard many different types of sailboats.

  

SailGP Racing October 2021

 

Here is news about SailGP foiling F50 racing that just happened this last weekends. Team Australia banged out the overall win in this series. Team Great Britain proved very competitive but ended with a spectacular pitchpole capsize and Team USA proved very consistent to place second overall in this series and overall in the years racing that ends in San Francisco this March.

A new development during the racing is women being added as the 5 sailor on board. Wonderful to see women getting their opportunity to get involved.

If you missed the racing watch it in these two videos. Racing happens again in December. Learn more at sailgp.com

 

 

July Sailing Update

Happy Pioneer Day at Pineview Reservoir in Utah. A new Hobie 16 in Utah, one of many. Seems the Hobie Fleet is growing again in Utah. Fleets are also growing in Southern Idaho, North Idaho and Eastern WA, and Montana. Connect with a Hobie Fleet at accesstooutdoors@gmail.com . Also if you sail non Hobie Cats either multihull or monohull use the same email to learn more.

Also SailGP racing finished up just this last week. Team Australia is back on top but Team USA has raced in the last two series finals. Many expect Team USA to win one of the series finals soon. Skipper Jimmy Spithill knows how to win and make a boat go fast. This is his first season with SailGP and Jimmy is showing amazing results in a very talented field of sailors. Here is the highlights video.

 

June SailGP Racing

More amazing racing via Sail Grand Prix (sailgp.com). With Jimmy Spithill (Bull Dog) as skipper aboard team USA boat, they did really well this series with two wins. Unfortunately in the final they broke a rudder, not allowing them to finish the race. Japan overall has the most wins and won the final. Good news is there is more racing to come, with the Grand Final in March of 2022. Next racing series is in Great Britain in July.

Here is a high lights video. Watch all the racing via the below links to youtube

Race Day 1... https://youtu.be/a631wI2bVd4

Race Day 2... https://youtu.be/RSOGQ3tk5sU

SailGP Racing April 2021

 Amazing two days of racing with over 50 knot speeds... Watch the racing via Youtube...

April and May Events

With the first day of spring fast approaching on March 20 we have some fun spring events coming. Online you can watch SailGP's first series of races for the year on April 24-25 in Bermuda. In May we have our first Inland NW Sailors club activity, FunToSAIL sailing lessons start, and the first annual Silver Lake Mall National Safe Boating event on 5/21-22 (see calendar) 

Virtual SailGP Grand Final

There is still sailboat racing going on even now during the plandemic and its virtual, watch it here...

2020 Sailing Season Cancelled?

It is highly likely that in the US at least most if not all sailboat racing is cancelled. SailGP has cancelled both their US events and its likely their races in Europe will be cancelled as well. Also this years Americas Cup world series racing looks to be cancelled as well, as right now the racing is on hold. And most small local races are cancelled (check with the clubs who are sponsoring the regattas).

So what to do?

2020 will be the year of recreational sailing. Some US states have closed parks and boat launches leaving waters open to only those with boats at private homes and in marinas that are still open. Check with your state agencies, businesses, etc. for launch and marina closures.

So again what to do? If you have a small light weight sailboat like a Super Sea Snark or Hobie Cat or Island, or other, one can launch from public land that does not have a launch as long of course its not closed off. The reality is no state can block every piece of shoreline to the public. As long as there is no stay-at-home order that restricts out door activity one can go sailing with appropriate social distancing (see boating rules below in pic). If you go to a location and there are a lot of people there just go somewhere else. Social distancing must be maintained during this time until lifted.

The words "beach cat" take on a whole new meaning when needing to launch from a beach, etc.

If you have never launch from a shoreline without a paved launch it takes planning and doing so from a place that is not deep with mud, etc. Sandy beaches are perfect or areas with gravel type surfaces. One will want to use a beach dolly or lay down a piece of carpet to keep the bottom of ones hull(s) perfect. If the surfs up one will need to learn to launch and land through the surf. If you have questions please leave a response at the end of this article. We also have a new book coming out that covers this topic and many more.

Visit Boating the Inland NW section of funtosail.com to find fun places to launch from in Eastern WA. and North Idaho. Sorry I have not finished the NW Montana section. Click Here!

SailGP Group Party

Our first Inland NW Sailing activity is watching live SailGP racing at Miles Moore house in Hayden Idaho this Friday the 28th at 7:pm. Please RSVP Miles at the bottom of this post.

To get your sailing enthusiasm going here is a video of SailGP Team USA. If you can not attend visit SailGP.com or SailGP Facebook or SailGP youtube channel to watch the racing and comment below what you thought of the racing, etc.

COMMENT HERE (BELOW)

2020 SailGP Racing

ATTENTION all SailGP fans, racing starts this February 27-28 in Sydney Harbor Australia! Another exciting year of racing! Watch at these links/sites... Youtube or Facebook . Two new teams will be competing from Spain and Denmark. Official website is at sailgp.com

Team Australia Wins it ALL!

Team Australia wins the first inaugural SailGP racing series. They are the Champions and the team to beat next year. Next years racing starts on February 28, 2020.

This is now the premier racing series in the world. Unlike the Americas Cup the SailGP program does not have any of the politics or the need to constantly build all new boats each time the regatta happens. What this means for SailGP is their boats can be continually tweaked before each years racing starts. Teams members can be employed and retained each year, no need to look for the next big thing in sailing as SailGP is it (and for employment). A lot of advantages to this set up.

We all should thank Russell Coutts for his vision and for Larry Ellison of Oracle willingness to not let the foiling cats die after it was announced the next Americas Cup would be raced on 75 foot foiling monohulls, which so far has shown to be a bad choice. But no matter we have SailGP!

Watch/listen to the following videos to enjoy the replays of the today's races and the big finale...

SailGP second day of racing

After 2 days of racing team Japan sits atop the leader board by 1 point. Japan and Australia have secured their position in the match race final, but 3rd and 4th positions are up for grabs. Team China skippered by Phil Robinson with crew of 2 New Zealanders and 2 from China won one race today giving a nice break from the Japan and Australia dominance.

Team USA and GBR are still struggling to maintain their top speeds, which is consistently putting them in the back of the pack. Hopefully tomorrow they can step it up. Either team could still get the 3rd podium position if they have much better race results tomorrow.

Announced today is the addition of a 7th team to the line up for next year. No word on what country the team will be from. Also announced new for next year is wing options and improvements. Basically there will be a smaller wing sail for strong winds and bigger sail for light winds, plus the sails will be more adjustable with 6 controls versus 3 current controls. Such controls will allow the boats to perform even better in various wind conditions resulting in better speeds. There will also be some improvements/adjustments to the foils, and other systems on the boats.

You can watch tomorrows racing via SailGP youtube.com channel or facebook page.

Watch/listen to the following videos to enjoy the replays of the previous races... The last video is fan forum questions to the experts of SailGP

SailGP Racing

Attention amazing SailGP racing is taking place NOW (September 20-22) in Marseille France. This is the Grand Ending to an amazing series of racing in 2019. The final will likely come down to the Australians and Japanese (both skippers are Australian as is most of the crew members) but the battle for 3rd and 4th will also be intense. You can watch the racing via SailGP youtube.com channel or facebook page.

The following is a YouTube link to the previous racing in Cowes UK.