SailGP has touched down in LA ahead of this weekend’s inaugural Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix, which will see the league’s fleet race on the Port of Los Angeles for the first time.
The Tech Base has been built, the F50s assembled and the first teams are hitting the water to begin all-important practice ahead of official racing on July 22 & 23.
The hydrofoiling F50 fleet will hit the water to begin practice racing tomorrow (Friday, July 21), before racing gets underway at 4pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Teams will compete on the tight racecourse of the Port of Los Angeles, navigating both a breakwater and the thermal afternoon breezes of ‘Hurricane Gulch” across five fleet races. The top three teams will then battle it out for glory in the winner-takes-all Final on Sunday afternoon.
Peter Burling’s New Zealand will look to defend its spot at the top of the leaderboard from fierce rivals Australia after triumphing at Season 4’s opening event in Chicago last month.
Meanwhile Canada, which made a promising season start despite facing ownership uncertainty, will look to build on its third place position.
The pressure will be on for home favorites the United States, which kicked off the new season with a poor performance on Lake Michigan, alongside Quentin Delapierre’s France and Ben Ainslie’s Emirates GBR, both of which had lackluster opening showings.
LA will mark the second competitive appearance of Erik Heil’s Germany, which will benefit from two days’ additional practice ahead of racing.
The Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix will take place on July 22 & 23, with racing scheduled between 4pm-5.30pm PDT. Full broadcast information and How To Watch details are HERE.
