
SailGP on Its Way from New York to San Francisco
Two weeks ago SailGP finished its regular New York season. The road show will be in San Francisco on July 13–14 for the season Grand Final. Craig Ligibel wrote a recap of New York and a preview for San Francisco.

With $2 million on the line in the beefed-up winner-take-all Mubadala SailGP Final to be staged in San Francisco the weekend of July 13–14, team drivers are focused on who will … and who will not … make it to the season-ending three-team match race that will decide the winner of the purse and the season’s champion.
A couple of things are for sure:
First, barring a disaster, the New Zealand team “The Black Foils” already have their ticket punched for the three-boat match race.
Three other teams are within striking distance of a top-three finish, including three-time SailGP champs the Australians hovering in second place with only a few-point lead over rising stars Spain and France. Canada, Denmark and Great Britain are lurking close behind.

With five fleet races to be staged before the winner-take-all Final, anything can happen, as points are awarded for fleet-race performance that could catapult any one of the contending teams into the race for the $2 million prize.
As Aussie Flying Roo helmsman Tom Slingsby told me right before last month’s race in New York City, “We’ve had a string of bad luck recently. Highs and lows. Hopefully we can finish strong here (they did) … and ride that wave of good luck all the way to San Fran.”

Another thing just as certain is that the American SailGP boat has no chance of finishing anywhere other than in the bottom third of the pack, thanks to a number of last- and next-to-last-place finishes in the previous two events.
Team USA helmsman, 35-year-old Taylor Canfield, summarized his team’s New York City performance like this: “It’s not what we were expecting when we showed up this morning. Light, fluky winds made it tough going out there. The team had ‘moments of brilliance’ during the opening day but still has a lot of work to do.”
On Day 1, the team finished dead last in both fleet races (the third was abandoned due to light winds) and has now had five consecutive 10th-place finishes across the last five fleet races spanning New York and Bermuda.
“We are really looking forward to staying in the US for the next one,” Canfield said. “Being here in front of the whole crowd and all the support we’re getting for San Francisco, it’s incredible. So we ask the fans to bear with us a little longer! It will come!”

When asked what it will take for the US team to move up in the rankings next year, an optimistic Canfield indicated that more time on the water and better consistency as a team will “put us in a better place.”

Might changes to the team include the addition of some non-US sailors? Canfield was quick to point out, “ We are an American team. We have the talent to win without looking outside of the United States.”
The New Zealand team is the odds-on favorite to win the season-ending crown … and monetary prize. They are coming off a fifth victory of the season as they ran away with the New York title in beating Canada and Great Britain by more than 30 seconds.
After the New York City event, Black Foils boat driver Peter Burling said, “I knew we had a long road ahead of us to be top of the leaderboard going into the Grand Final. It’s been a tough season, but to just charge through that and get these wins on the board is something we’re super-proud of.”

The Australians barely nudged out the Kiwis in last year’s Grand Final.
“We remember that loss,” determined Kiwi boat driver Peter Burling said. “But with SailGP anything can happen.”
There are a variety of ticketing options available for spectators in San Francisco, including Waterfront Reserve and Waterfront Premium seating. There is also a Bring Your Own Boat option and the opportunity to watch the racing from dedicated observation boats located around the race course. You can book tickets here.
Are they going to try to reserve another invisible section of public water on SF Bay for paid viewing again?! Last time I did a few tacks back and forth in attempt to see what it looked like from the water, I was surprised to be approached by on the water law enforcement (paid by the sponsors) who instructed me to leave the area and stay outside of some unmarked and indiscernible perimeter that was basically in the middle of the bay. The view of the race action was terrible anyways … I’d rather watch a fleet of lasers. And it certainly isn’t worth paying $400-600 for on the water viewing.
In my experience, the best way to watch it live is find a good vantage point on land, take your I Pad, and watch the action when it goes by you and then the rest on the I Pad when out of view.