SailGP has lifted the lid on the cutting edge technology behind its new autonomous race marks, which were first trialled last month in Christchurch.

The marks, which have been developed by SailGP Technologies in partnership with ePropulsion and MarkSetBot, are fully electrically powered and operated via GPS. This means there is no need to anchor each mark to the sea bed, avoiding damage to the local environment.

Speaking about the project, on water operations transition manager Tom Verity said: “SailGP Technologies is doing a fantastic job in actually integrating sustainable materials, electric engines from ePropulsion and also working with MarkSetBot in the control system integration to actually develop a world-first in terms of this GP Bot program.”

Season 3 // New Zealand Sail Grand Prix // New marks in Christchurch

Two of the autonomous marks will be trialed again at next month’s SailGP Season 3 Grand Final in San Francisco before the marks are rolled out across the entire racecourse of the United States Sail Grand Prix | Los Angeles in July.