SailGP: Sir Ben Ainslie discusses Season 2, data sharing and Great Britain's bid for the title

Imagine being able to read all of your competitors' playbooks and then being allowed to take to the field and compete against them. In essence, that's exactly what teams in SailGP are able to do.

Throughout a SailGP season, which contains eight Sail Grand Prix weekends spanning across three continents, the rival teams all have access to each others' data.

This isn't the only unique and fascinating aspect of SailGP. Another, is that there's just one design class of boat - an F50 - and that means all teams are on an equal-footing equipment wise.

These F50 wingsailed catamarans are able to deliver speeds of 50 knots (around 60mph). With the world's best sailors at the helm and tight courses with limited passing lanes, racing promises to be fast and furious... more about that later.

First, back to reading your competitors' playbooks and Great Britain's helmsman's perspective on that. You might think that Sir Ben Ainslie would want to keep his team's workings a secret, but actually, he's relishing the complexity that such openness brings.

"If one team is sailing particularly well, or they're sailing some of their manoeuvres particularly well, then you can analyse how they're setting up the boat and sailing the boat," he told Sky Sports from Bermuda.

"You can take a look at how their sailors are operating through the manoeuvres and the chorography of a particular manoeuvre. That's fascinating and it's great for the league to be so open to allow that.

"It means that all of the teams have the opportunity to develop and through that, the racing just gets closer and closer because everyone's monitoring the successful manoeuvres."

Ainslie and the British SailGP outfit know just what success looks like too, as their first outing back in 2020 saw them triumph in Sydney. However, the global pandemic then forced the 'original' Season 2 to be cancelled and the British team's triumph became null and void.

After that, Ainslie turned back to the small matter of an America's Cup campaign! Suffice to say, an America's Cup challenge is an incredibly taxing and intense period.

It starts years before teams' final race boats are lowered onto the water and Max Sirena, team director of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli summed it up well, when he said that the Cup "takes everything from you and you give everything you have to it".

As the recent 36th America's Cup reached its latter stages, you could see through the Sky Sports coverage, the impact it was having on the helmsmen.

With so much on the line and the need for constant development, dark circles became apparent underneath their eyes. Then, as the weeks went on, feelings of disappointment were added to those circles.

First, despair was felt by members of New York Yacht Club's American Magic, then by Ainslie and INEOS TEAM UK's unit. Finally, all involved with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli became heartbroken, as every team was unable to wrestle the Auld Mug back from Emirates Team New Zealand.

So, as Ainslie now looks towards the start of a new competition and SailGP's Season 2, are his batteries fully recharged following such a gruelling period?

"Yes and no," the British sailor said, honestly and with a slight smile.

"Ideally, you could probably take quite a decent break after a really intense three-or-four-year campaign like we had with the Cup. But, that said, there's a lot of work that needs to go into working out where we went wrong, and where we take the team from here.

"I've been working hard on that and then moved straight into a league like SailGP and returning to racing. So, there's not been much time to rest and relax.

"I had a tour of the South Island of New Zealand with my wife and daughter, we had 10 days there, and that was really the break!"

With the Royal Yacht Squadron Racing and INEOS TEAM UK becoming the Challenger of Record for the 37th edition of the America's Cup, Ainslie's Cup responsibilities will continue alongside SailGP.

"It's interesting," he said. "There's a commitment being the Challenger of Record in terms of working with the defending team to take the Cup forwards.

"There are decisions about what the class of boat will be for the next campaign, also around venues and rules. There's a responsibility there but, I think if you have a good relationship with the defending team, which we certainly do with Team New Zealand, then that process should be reasonably straight forwards.

"It's my job, and the rest of the team's job, to focus on both time on the water and keeping our racing skills high, which we'll get through SailGP, but also with regards to the Cup, thinking about the future in terms of the technical aspects of it.

"We want to think about how we develop our design programme moving forwards. We want to look at how we can build on the partnerships we created through this last Cup cycle, to ultimately get that fast boat that we all know we need if we're going to be successful."

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Ainslie's immediate focus is two days of racing against seven other SailGP teams, and teams that are packed with many of the sailors he took on during the 36th America's Cup.

Ainslie, Peter Burling, Jimmy Spithill and others who were involved in the Cup, have to park memories of AC75s and turn their attention onto these dynamic and whippy F50s.

"They're both incredible boats to sail," Ainslie said. "The AC75 is obviously a bigger boat that's more powerful, and in many ways, it's more stable than the F50.

"The F50 is also a multihull, a big catamaran, which means that there are times when the boat feels like it's more on edge and less stable.

"For the style of racing that we do in SailGP that's a good thing; it's a good thing that the boats are on edge and that they're hard to sail.

"All eight teams are going to have moments where they're wiping out on the course. It's really going to come down to the skill of the sailors to handle these boats perfectly through these tight racecourses, in different venues around the world.

"It's going to be fascinating to see which teams get the better of that [the courses] and come out on top."

Ainslie: We want to make a difference

Sir Ben Ainslie speaks to Sky Sports News presenter David Garrido about representing Great Britain in SailGP and about sustainability in the "climate positive" competition. (Image Credit - Eloi Stichelbaut)

With new teams arriving, new helmsmen, female athletes being included for the first time and eight Sail Grand Prix events taking place across three continents, Ainslie and all involved in SailGP Season 2 have signed themselves up for a significant challenge.

It's one that he feels the British team are prepared for, though. Alongside Ainslie, there's considerable experience within the settled team; Olympic Gold medallists Iain 'Goobs' Jensen and Matt Gotrel are present, as well as Luke Parkinson, Neil Hunter and Rich Mason, who were all part of the recent America's Cup challenge.

Olympic Gold medallist Hannah Mills, the first triallist in GB's female development programme, is also in Bermuda and Mills, who Ainslie describes as an 'incredible sailor', has fitted in superbly.

"Sailing is like any other sport, it's about teamwork and having the best squad," Ainslie concluded.

"I look at our line-up and there's nobody that I'd trade with any of the other teams. Every person on our squad is at the top of their game, and at the top of the world in terms of their sailing skills.

"We've got a strong squad and we work well as a team. We're going to keep building on that, building those skills and our team ethos over the season and into the future."

Watch every race day of SailGP Season 2, 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.