SailGP

Have you ever followed a “traditional” sailboat race from the shore? Generally speaking, it’s very monotonous, and you can’t really understand what’s going on... Seen from a distance, the boats move slowly (with the exception of the fastest multihulls, to which we’ll come later...) and sometimes pass each other without you realizing exactly where the course is taking them. And above all, how can you tell who’s in the lead?
Fortunately, a little over 10 years ago, something clicked. The great regatta that (finally) revolutionized everything was the 34th America’s Cup, held in San Francisco in 2013. The grandstands set up on the quays and the shoreline were packed with spectators, and the media broadcast the ballet of ultra- high-performance catamarans, the AC72s, on screens the world over. Equipped with a rigid wing, these multihulls flew side by side at unprecedented speeds, tacking within short distances of the quayside. To hear the comments, for the first time, sailing novices were beginning to understand the races. What’s more, all the spectators enjoyed watching these machines fly around such a tight perimeter, a bit like a stadium. There is a before and after San Francisco. In 2017, the 35th America’s Cup being contested in Bermuda used the AC50, a smaller catamaran, but just as fast as the 72, as its craft of choice. One of these rocketships was to reach a speed of 47.2 knots. Then, as is customary, the winners imposed their rules for the following edition. And, in this case, it was Team New Zealand who won the cup and dictated a switch to hydrofoiling monohulls for the following event, which would introduce the AC75.

The birth of an extraordinary international championship

Two major players from the America’s Cup were Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, and Russel Coutts, five-time America’s Cup winner and director of the BMW Oracle Racing Team. The two men, disappointed with the outcome of the previous edition, wanted to continue sailing AC50s, but in a more predictable, regular and, above all, far less costly context than the America’s Cup. The SailGP concept was born: a competition that orchestrates fleet racing in a fast and furious mode. A horde of flying catamarans, led by famous sailors in the world’s most beautiful waters, would compete in a well-followed and well-funded annual championship. The idea was to copy F1 Grand Prix motor racing, but for on the water...
To achieve this, Larry Ellison and Russel Coutts got their hands on the three remaining AC50s (six had been built in all). The catamarans were then modified to improve their performance. During the Cup, these catamarans were sailed by a six-man crew, four of whom, on winches or “bicycles”, activated a hydraulic power unit to operate the foils and trim the rigid sail. Renamed the F50 (F for foil), the new one-designs now incorporated a hydraulic power unit that supplies the energy required for the duration of the race. This evolution allowed the number of crew ...