Sir Ben Ainslie and Jimmy Spithill are among the helmsmen racing against each other on equally-matched F50 boats.; eight teams will compete across the season to be part of a $1m winner-takes-all final; the first Sail Grand Prix starts on Saturday; every race is live on Sky Sports
Thursday 15 April 2021 18:02, UK
Season 2 of SailGP will feature eight global events as the world's best sailors compete on equally-matched, cutting-edge F50 catamarans.
This season, racing is set to start in Bermuda on Saturday, with the first of eight Sail Grand Prix events that will take place across three continents.
Points will be accumulated throughout the season and then at the last event in San Francisco, a $1m winner-takes-all final will determine Season 2's champion.
Great Britain's Grand Prix weekend will be held in Plymouth in July and teams will also enjoy racing in Italy, Denmark, France, Spain and New Zealand before the Grand Final in March 2022.
For Season 2, the competition has also boosted its focus on gender equity with female sailors being an integral part of each SailGP team for the first time.
After racing in 2020 was suspended, the anticipation around Season 2 of SailGP has been building for some time.
This season, New Zealand will be making their league debut and their team will be led by the recent America's Cup-winning helmsman Peter Burling.
Jimmy Spithill will be spearheading a new-look USA team for the first time, Nathan Outteridge leads Japan's challenge and Sir Ben Ainslie will race his first full season at the helm of Britain's SailGP team.
Tom Slingsby's Australian outfit are the reigning champions, plus crews from Denmark and Spain are also set for their first full SailGP seasons.
In Season 2, all teams will race SailGP's F50 wingsailed catamarans; boats that are able to deliver speeds of 50 knots (around 60mph).
With one design class, the teams are on an equal-footing equipment wise, and that means the outcomes of races will be determined by the prowess of the sailors.
Fans will be able to immerse themselves in teams' races through the live coverage on Sky Sports. Visual coverage will be captured from all angles using a helicopter, chase boats and the 16 on-board cameras present on each F50. Also, data directly from the boats will feed into the SailGP App to provide more information than ever before.
SailGP has always been about the best sailors on the planet, racing in identical, supercharged boats, and the new talent and experience coming into the league raises that level even further. These boats are absolute beasts and they haven’t lost any bite, that’s for sure.
Each Sail Grand Prix event will include two competition days. Across the two days there will be five fleet races, which lead to a final race between the front-runners.
Points are accumulated at each event during the season, and then there will be a winner-takes-all championship race at the Grand Final in San Francisco.
Great Britain's challenge to win Season 2 of SailGP is in excellent hands as Ainslie is stepping up at the helm. In Bermuda and beyond, the whole team will be looking to replicate the excellent introduction they made to the competition in February 2020.
Over in Sydney, the British team won on their debut, however when the global pandemic struck shortly after, the season had to be cancelled.
Although the team's victory has been declared null and avoid since, it did give British fans and Ainslie's opponents, the chance to see that he means business on an F50.
This season SailGP has implemented a plan for female inclusion in the championship and teams will have at least one female athlete immersed in their programmes throughout the season.
Depending on the individuals that have been chosen, and teams' desired working practices, different routes will be taken throughout the season.
Some will rotate their athletes, for example New Zealand with Liv Mackay competing at the 2021 Olympics, while others will work towards different selection points during the year.
Within the British team, Hannah Mills travels to Bermuda and Anna Burnet to the second Sail Grand Prix in Italy. Four other athletes will then attend the event in Plymouth, and, from there, one will continue for the rest of the season.
The overarching aim of this gender equity initiative is to 'fast-track the development of top female sailors to race on F50s and perform at the highest level' and the initiative is being driven by the SailGP women's committee.
Slingsby has revealed a strong line-up as Australia's SailGP team bid to defend their title. Kyle Langford, Jason Waterhouse, Sam Newton and Kinley Fowler will all return to Slingsby's team as wing trimmer, flight controller, grinder and grinder/flight controller respectively.
Nick Hutton is joining too, with Olympic silver medallists Lisa Darmanin and Nina Curtis arriving in Bermuda, as the two successful candidates from the Australia SailGP Team female development programme.
We’ve proven what a strong team we have after our success in Season 1 and their ability and experience on the F50 is going to be crucial when we go up against tough new competition this season.
"We have used this time off between seasons to review our performance as a team and assess improvements we can make," Slingsby added.
"We are coming back hungrier than ever, with the goal of bringing home the championship trophy again for Australia."
Burling and the majority of his New Zealand team are arriving at their first SailGP season with the sound of success still ringing in their ears.
Every member of their team, except Erica Dawson and Liv Mackay, were part of Emirates Team New Zealand's recent America's Cup triumph over Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
Needless to say, the other outfits in the competition will be hoping that Burling and his team are still recovering from the stresses and strains of their America's Cup campaign, and, as a result, they can catch them cold in Bermuda.
Watch every race day of SailGP Season 2, live on Sky Sports. The first Sail Grand Prix takes place this weekend, with coverage starting on Saturday at 6pm on Sky Sports Action and Mix.
