As predicted, there were light sailing conditions with sunny skies for the second and final race day of the T-Mobile United States Sail Grand Prix. The Swiss team sailed two races on Lake Michigan, taking it to five in total across the weekend.
Defending Champions, Australia SailGP Team, claimed a second consecutive event win, beating the British and Canadians in the three-team winner-takes-all final.
The light wind brought a new F50 configuration and for the first time the Swiss sailed with the larger more powerful 29 metre wing sail, compared to yesterday’s 24m. Despite a great start and taking the lead for the majority of the first race, the team finished fourth and followed up with a ninth place in race two.
Driver, Sébastien Schneiter on the team’s performance in Chicago, the second event of Season 3: “It was the first day on the big wing which was quite different, especially in the tacks. It’s obviously much bigger, the weight is a lot further aft and it’s a lot more powerful - so that was super interesting!
"Chicago is the second event ever for us and overall we made some good progress in every area which is positive. Everyone is pretty happy with how we sailed but we were disappointed with how today ended.
“It started well, we had an amazing start in race one and were leading the race, but we lost it towards the end. In the second race we had the opportunity, but we lacked some decision making that could have put us at the front of the fleet, so it’s a bit of a bittersweet ending as there was definitely an opportunity there. The team deserved a good result, everybody has been working really hard but we just have to be patient and wait a little longer as it will come."
Swiss SailGP Team, CEO Tanguy Cariou concluded: “It’s a really competitive fleet and it was a really tight event here in Chicago, but the team had some promising single races, with good mark roundings and good positions. Unfortunately the final result is not so good, but we have learnt some valuable lessons from our first two events and will continue to improve. Now we are looking ahead to Plymouth and the racing in Europe this summer.”
The SailGP fleet will now head to Europe for the European leg of the championship this summer. Coming up next for the Swiss is the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Plymouth (30-31 July), followed by races in Copenhagen, St Tropez and Cadiz.
Switzerland SailGP Team is supported by its main partner and Race for the Future partner, the VI Foundation. The team are racing with an important call to action for competitors and fans world-wide; to champion equal opportunities to achieve and to ‘#BacktheBid’, to see the sport of sailing reinstated in the Paralympic Games in time for LA28.
