Giles Scott, the double Olympic gold medallist, has won his first SailGP event since taking over from Sir Ben Ainslie as Driver of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team in January. Scott, who incidentally spent part of his childhood growing up in Canada, has won the first ever SailGP event in the country, the ROCKWOOL Canada Sail Grand Prix. The British crew put on a solid display of sailing in epic conditions as they managed to hit speeds of 93kmh to take the victory on the Halifax Harbour.
Emirates GBR showed their class as they sailed their F50 race boat excellently amid gusts of 40kmh and a downpour of rain that reduced visibility. Emirates GBR Driver Giles Scott said he was “absolutely buzzing” to secure his first SailGP win.
Sir Ben Ainslie, Emirates GBR’s CEO, was quick to congratulate Giles and the team posting on social media: “Never in doubt! Awesome effort from Giles Scott, Hannah Mills and the rest of the team. That’s how you bounce back from a rough patch.”
Speaking after the win, Scott said: “It was an awesome day of racing despite the super tricky conditions. A lot of rain came in and it was gusty and shifty out there. I just feel very fortunate to have an amazing crew to sail with and we absolutely nailed it this weekend, we’re all really stoked.
It’s our first win with me in the Driver role and it’s definitely a confidence boost. It’s pretty easy in this League to feel like you’re not doing the role justice so it’s nice to get our first win together and to put a marker down that I am capable. We’re excited for the next event in New York later this month, we’ve got a lot of work to do to make that Grand Final in San Francisco but we are going to focus on learning and improving to put us in a good position for next season.”
Read the full story on Emirates GBR’s website HERE.
