Canada's SailGP Team Takes the Lead in San Francisco

 

Canada’s SailGP F50 catamaran team helmed by Giles Scott with wing trimmer Paul Campbell-James had the overnight lead on Saturday March 22 in the SailGP Season 25 event, which is taking place under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco.

Boats representing 12 countries are competing in a racing series which, like Formula 1 car racing, travels the world, with events in the 2025 season taking place in Dubai, Aukland, Sydney, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Rio de Janieiro, New York, Sassnitz, St Tropez, Geneva, Cadiz and Abu Dhabi.

The catamarans can reach speeds of up to 54 knots when up on hydrofoils, with race courses optimized for spectators viewing the racing on land.  Each team competes with an identical boat, meaning that results are based on the skill of the crews and tactics adopted.  The hydrofoils used on the boats are made of higher modulus carbon fiber and are designed to delay the onset of cavitation when air bubbles create friction and drag resistance. Crashes and capsizes are rare, but when they occur, they are high-impact events because of the speeds involved.

Halfway through the series, the British, Australian and New Zealand boats are in the top three places, with the American boat still struggling to find form.