SailGP’s commentators have unpacked New York’s racing action, which saw home team the United States come last for the third consecutive event, while season leaders New Zealand clinched their 5th event win of the season.
Taylor Canfield’s team languished at the back of the fleet throughout all four fleet races to end with a 10-10-10-9 race record. This meant the team finished behind even Germany, which began the event on -4 points after picking up a penalty in practice racing.
Reflecting on the event, which marked the United States’ third consecutive last place finish, commentator Stevie Morrison said: “It’s going to take a lot [to turn the team around] - there’s a lot to learn.”
He questioned the United States’ decision to configure ‘a completely fresh’ crew after the team ownership refresh midway through Season 4.
The new athlete roster saw former U.S. team stalwarts wing trimmer Paul Campbell-James and coach Philippe Presti replaced by an all-American, but inexperienced, crew.
Morrison specifically pointed to the key roles of driver, flight controller and wing trimmer - “I think one of those needs to have experience,” he said. “They’ve chosen to go with a completely fresh team, and I’m sure they’ll back that decision, but I feel like if all three of you are trying to learn at the same time, that’s really, really hard.”
He added: “I think they need a bit of experience to help them with the learning.”
Co-commentator Emily Nagel agreed, pointing to the team’s analytics which show ‘how much they’re adjusting everything’.
“They’re the most active on the wing trim and the foils, which isn’t even a good thing because it makes it really hard for [driver] Taylor [Canfield] to get locked in,” she said.
It comes after Canfield said the team would ‘absolutely not’ be looking for talent abroad if their results do not improve, adding that he is ‘confident in the group we have’.
The team’s New York performance could, however, mark ‘a turning point’ for the team, Nagel said. “They have finally admitted in the press conference that they have a lot of learning to do,” she said. “I think that’s the first time we’ve heard that from them.”
She commended their attitude of ‘we’re going to win and we’re here to smash it’, but added the team ‘need to realize they have gaps in their knowledge, they need to be open to learning and once they’ve done that they will actually improve.”
Speaking after racing, Canfield asked fans to ‘bear with us’ and said the crew had made ‘huge steps’ during the event.
“Maybe the results don’t really show that, but to sail in those tough conditions and to come away with great comms, good maneuvers and really execute on all the stuff we were going for is a big win for us,” he said.
