It was the SailGP fleet’s first-time ever racing in Canada this weekend, and thousands of spectators braved the wind and rain to watch from Halifax’s waterfront. The racecourse was tight and compact, the racing fast with teams reaching speeds of over 90 km/h.
For Switzerland SailGP Team the weekend ended in disappointment. Yesterday was a tricky, puffy and dynamic first day on the water, but with some good steps forward made in the crew's performance and handling. Then today, after a significant delay in craning operations, high winds limited the ability to safely crane all ten F50s into the water ahead of racing.
With teams prioritised based on the order of yesterday’s event standings, and with Switzerland sitting in ninth, USA in tenth, both teams were forced to stay onshore. Without the opportunity to fight back, the Swiss remain ninth overall.
Out on the water, the other teams provided plenty of action and drama; a technical issue caused the Aussies to capsize mid race and Emirates GBR’s Giles Scott took his first event win, beating the French and ROCKWOOL Denmark SailGP Team in an exciting final.
Swiss driver Nathan Outteridge said: “I actually think we sailed really well yesterday when it came to our performance and handling. We definitely took a few steps forward, but we also had a couple of errors, some bad starts and penalties which made our life difficult. Then there’s not too much to say about today. We did all we could to be out there racing and it was hard to miss out. It’s probably one of the strangest things I’ve been involved in.
“The weather prevented the tech team to get all the boats on the water, and as the crane in order was based on yesterday’s results, SailGP ran the racing with seven boats in the first fleet race and eight in the second. There’s nothing our team could have done about it except have a better day on the water yesterday and been higher up the leader board. It was a tough one for us, especially as Halifax is an awesome venue for the F50 racing.”
CEO Tanguy Cariou said: “It was a disappointing end to the event here in Halifax. Today we were fully ready to go on the water to fight but were forced to watch the racing together onshore. It was a tough decision made by SailGP and tough for the team. We will collectively review how resources are allocated to ensure this doesn’t happen again in the future. Then it’s all eyes on the racing in New York and we will be ready and sharp for our next event together.”
The Swiss team and the SailGP league looks forward to racing in the iconic city of New York next, 22-23 June.
