SailGP's five biggest stories this week, from our commentators' preview of Chicago to marking World Ocean Day

SailGP rounds up the biggest stories this week, from our commentators’ thoughts on the T-Mobile United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier to unveiling the four Canadian cities shortlisted to host a Sail Grand Prix event in Season 4.

CANADA DRIVER PHIL ROBERTSON: ‘WE ARE AS GREEN AS THEY COME’

First up, Phil Robertson opens up about the formation of the Canadian team and reflects on their performance in Bermuda. Talking to SailGP’s Deep Dive podcast, Robertson said the team were ‘as green as they come’ having only sailed on board the F50 for a total of 26 hours.

SHIFTY WIND CONDITIONS AND FRESHWATER RACING SET TO CHALLENGE CREWS IN CHICAGO

Next up, we spoke to SailGP’s three international commentators about the upcoming T-Mobile United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier, which will get underway next weekend. Todd Harris, Stevie Morrison and Freddie Carr talk foiling in freshwater vs salt water and what spectators can expect at the ‘urban enclosed race track’ of Chicago.

KUEHNE+NAGEL AND SAILGP REDUCE EVENT LOGISTICS CARBON EMISSIONS WITH BIOFUEL

In third place was the news that SailGP logistics partner Kuehne+Nagel saved 342 tonnes of C02 by transporting the league’s event infrastructure using biofuels. For the final events of Season 2, Kuehne+Nagel shipped SailGP’s freight over 30,000km from Cadiz to Sydney to San Francisco. It comes after the company previously used HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) for the 4,000km transport across mainland Europe earlier in the season, cutting emissions by 90%.

“THE OCEAN IS OUR RACETRACK": SAILGP MARKS WORLD OCEAN DAY

Also this week, SailGP marked World Ocean Day. Many teams took part in activities, including beach cleans and collective calls to action. The New Zealand, France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Spain and Australia teams all took part in Live Ocean’s Winter Dip while Canada joined its Race for the Future partner Ocean Wise to carry out shoreline cleanups.

FOUR CANADIAN CITIES SHORTLISTED TO HOST SAILGP EVENT

Last but not least was the news that four Canadian cities have been shortlisted to host a Sail Grand Prix event in Season 4. Out of ten potential host cities, Halifax in Nova Scotia, Kingston in Ontario, Montreal in Quebec and Victoria in British Columbia have all be shortlisted. The selection process will draw to a close in late October, giving the winning city time to prepare for the event in 2023/2024.

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