Sailing-Bigger and Faster, SailGP Back where it all Began In Sydney
By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY, Feb 7 (Reuters) - SailGP go back to where all of it started in Sydney this weekend and disgaeawiki.info six years on from the inaugural race, co-founder Russell Coutts sees a bright future for the ingenious global sailing league.
An Olympic champion and skipper of three Americas Cup-winning boats, Coutts coordinated with Larry Ellison, wiki.eqoarevival.com the billionaire creator of the Oracle software application company, to launch the series with six groups all owned by the league.
While the inaugural season which started in Sydney in February 2019 featured just 5 rounds, this weekend's race will be the third round of 13 the now 12-strong fleet will object to on the 2025-26 schedule.
"It's just remarkable, really, the uptake and variety of events now," SailGP chief executive Coutts informed Reuters at the Sydney Opera House on Friday.
"We're certainly sitting at 13, and aiming to increase that over the next seasons to someplace around 20. If you compare that to Formula One that has 24, that's sort of where we wish to get to. So yeah, the future looks good."
The idea of Formula One on water is implicit in the league's name and the comparison is not far from the mark when the world's best sailors press the F50 foiling catamarans to their limitations at what are spectacular speeds for waterborne vessels.
"We didn't set out to just attract the avid sailing fan, we try to make this sport understandable and explainable for all sports fans," Coutts added.
"The majority of our fans are not passionate sailors, which is among the factors why we've grown so rapidly. We are attracting individuals that just like enjoying a race, they do not have to comprehend anything about sailboats."
A bumper crowd of 25,000 ticketed fans turned out to enjoy Tom Slingsby's Australia team win the 2nd round of the series in Auckland last month.
"I think you'll see numerous of our occasions this year now like that, maybe even topping that," said Coutts, a 62-year-old New Zealander.
"The most important thing is the fans watching on broadcast ... but the fan experience on website is also critically important. We desire fans to come and have a good time and see some great racing."
Technological development is essential to SailGP and hundreds of thousands of information points are communicated from the boats to the for making use of race organisers, groups and to assist broadcasters enhance the viewer experience.
360 DEGREE VIEW
Coutts is delighted about some more innovations coming online as Artificial Intelligence is increasingly utilized to resolve the mountain of information.
"The big development for us going forward is the 360 degree view from on board the boat, with listening to the team comms," he said.
"The viewer will be taken on board and ride in addition to the Australian group in a race, and be able to take a look around any place they desire. That's the future."
There have, naturally, been challenges over the 6 years with the 2nd season disrupted by the COVID pandemic and race days still in some cases at the mercy of wind conditions.
A lack of F50s suggested the French team was unable to contend at this year's season-opening race in Dubai and damage to the boat once they got it ruled them out of the Auckland leg.
The full fleet of 12 boats will therefore race for the very first time this weekend and one of the most pleasing elements for Coutts is that all however one of the teams are, or quickly will be, independently owned or run.
"These teams are now offering for $50 million, I would never ever have forecasted that this early on," said Coutts, who prepares to bring another number of groups on board next year.
"We understood that that was the entire way the model was established, that group owners would be able to trade their teams and ideally generate income out of it, however I didn't believe we 'd attain it this early. That's been a nice surprise." (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Michael Perry)