New Zealand came out victorious in the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix, the “world’s most exciting racing on water,” on New York’s Hudson River Sunday.
The two-day event was the penultimate race weekend of Mubadala SailGP before the competition’s fourth season concludes in San Francisco in July.
SailGP is an international sailing competition in which F50 foiling catamarans compete at 13 global destinations for a season of grand prix races. Some of this season’s previous destinations included Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Sydney, Australia.
Each grand prix consists of separate “fleet races” before the three highest-scoring teams compete in a final race to decide the champion.
This SailGP season consists of 10 world-renowned teams: Australia, Canada, Emirates Great Britain, France, Germany, New Zealand, Rockwool Denmark, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.
On Friday, Coutts announced that SailGP Season Five would feature a Brazil team, the competition’s first-ever team from South America.
“As a league, it’s an awesome place to be,” said Phil Robertson, Canada’s driver. “You got new teams and a lot of interest from a lot of countries so to have Brazil on the start line is very special and cool to expand to South America.”
Coming off its last race in Halifax, Canada, earlier this month, SailGP completed its 12th stop around the world this season in the waters between New York and New Jersey in which Canada placed second and Emirates Great Britain placed third.
The last time SailGP raced in New York was its debut season in 2019.
“Looking back on that inaugural event is like reflecting on a totally different stage in our journey,” Russell Coutts, CEO of SailGP, said in a press conference Friday. “We had just six national teams in a five-event calendar and now nearing the end of Season Four, we have 10 teams with the best of the best athletes in the sport, competing in a 13-event calendar, broadcast in 212 territories around the world.”
Approximately 9,000 ticketed attendees gathered on Governors Island and on the water Saturday and Sunday to watch the races.
Taylor Canfield, driver for the U.S. team, spoke on the significance of sailing in front of home fans in New York City and in San Francisco next month.
“It’s so cool to be here in the U.S. and these two iconic cities in New York and San Francisco,” Canfield said in Friday’s press conference. “It’s going to be amazing conditions and just perfect weather. This is the most iconic city in the world and it’s going to come alive so we’re excited about that.”
Looking forward to the final races in San Francisco next month, team Australia — reigning champion of SailGP seasons one, two and three — faces pressure to take home another win.
“It’s exciting to be in this position,” Tom Slingsby, driver for Australia, said. “For sure there’s a bit more adrenaline and there’s a bit more on the line knowing that every race really counts at the moment but I have full faith in my team. We’ve performed under pressure, we’ve won three one million dollar races.”
On July 14, one team will walk away with a $2 million prize and the title of SailGP’s season four champion.
