In this episode of SailGP’s behind-the-scenes docuseries in partnership with Rolex we hear from the most decorated Olympic sailor in history, Sir Ben Ainslie. Also the untold story of New Zealand SailGP Team’s shocking wing collapse in Saint-Tropez. Plus the teams are faced with a decision that has emotions running high.
Subscribe today https://bit.ly/2IZR3n4
Sign up to the SailGP fan loyalty program, The Dock at sailgp.com/dock
Follow SailGP On TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @sailgp
Stay up to date with the SailGP newsletter: http://sail.gp/signup
SailGP is high speed, high tech and high impact. This global sports championship combines cutting-edge tech, iconic global venues, elite athletes and record-breaking speeds to create the most exciting racing on water. Rival teams from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Canada, France, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Spain battle it out at iconic venues around the world in short, intense races for a total prize pot of $5 million. Teams compete in identical hydrofoiling F50 catamarans that fly above the water at electrifying speeds approaching 100 km/h. Fan-centric and close-to-shore, each SailGP Championship culminates in a $1 million, three-boat, winner-takes-all Grand Final.
#SailGP #PoweredbyNature
All good here. We’re good behind. End of race one here in Saint Tropez. New Zealand SailGP team crosses the finish line first, followed by Sir Ben Ainslie, the greatest Olympic sailor of all time. That’s right. Sir Ben Ainslie’s success has made him one of the most in-demand athletes, but recently he just
Hasn’t been winning Grand Prix. People don’t often see what’s going on in the background off the water. I look at my own recent history and a very close friend of mine passed away recently from a very short illness with cancer. And so in Chicago, I turned up on
The first day of racing, I came from his funeral. And then in Los Angeles was the memorial service. So I just made it for the practice day. And, you know, I’m not making excuses, but that’s… that’s tough because at those moments, that’s more important than sport. Your friends, your family.
And you have to get that balance right. And it’s tricky. End of day one and Emirates GBR look, really well-positioned to make it into tomorrow’s final. For sure. But I also really like the Kiwis. Definitely strong contenders for the final as well. We decided we were going to go and
Sail past a few of the Kiwi fans that there had been cheering us on. Just touching the boat into the water to stop. And I heard an almighty bang. When the mast broke the audio and the video cut straight away. So I had no idea what actually happened.
– So we’re sailing along there. – Yeah. Well, it freezes, We lose. We don’t see anything. So then I just got on the phone and rang the chase boat. When you have a structural failure of components, I guess the consequences can be, yeah, very, you know, the absolute worst. We were incredibly lucky.
Yeah. To have go through an incident like that and have…. everyone safe is something that, you know, we’re incredibly thankful for. Yeah. Yes. It’s a great relief to hear that everyone’s okay. But the Kiwi boat, Amokura, is in really bad shape, and I know it’s going to hurt them.
The Kiwis and their Maori culture have a unique and a really profound connection to their sailing craft. To see Amokura… And we’ve seen it a few times this year with the lightning strike in Singapore. We get both wings being damaged in the Sydney weather event and
Then to see the wing come down in Saint Tropez… That’s part of us getting broken. No injuries? I don’t know how. So lucky. You have video? – No way! – It’s crazy! Whoa. I’m really happy everyone’s alright. Oh,! It landed on him! That hasn’t really sunk in yet.
You know, the initial feeling is more… We’ve come to shore and getting hugs and emotion from members of other boats. You know, that really sort of sinks in. What a big occasion that we just head out on the water and what a big catastrophe that was and really just makes you feel even
Luckier that everyone got ashore safely. Because of the extensive damage on the New Zealand boat in Saint Tropez They can’t repair it overnight. So the Kiwi team have to watch racing from the team chase boat all of day two. They’ve got to watch their rivals battle it out and get all those
Points that they’re not getting. It’s the final here in Saint-Tropez, Australia has a comfortable lead over Emirates GBR. Looks like Sir Ben Ainslie. is going to have to wait a little more for a Grand Prix victory. It’s now going to be two years without winning. We talked a lot about that.
We’ve got a great team. We struggled over the last two years for a number of different reasons why we couldn’t quite reach our performance and… and why? I mean, how how do you answer that question? Any number of reasons why It’s really difficult to pinpoint why Sir Ben Ainslie doesn’t have more
Grand Prix victories under his belt. I’d like to think we’re not out of this one yet, though, but I’m a bit afraid to say it looks like another Australian victory on the way. Leg four. Two legs and this race will be finished. Advantage Australia. Pressure on the nose as well.
We knew the race course was shifty. There was always going to be opportunity. -Keep the speed. -Yeah. And we waited and waited and just kept it as close as we could and waited for the opportunity to get a split where we thought there might be a gain. And it came right
At the last moment, as it always does. Ben Ainslie, Tom Slingsby, 200 meters of separation. This is the last upwind. It’s a risky strategy by the Brits, who could lose third position to Spain. This is the race here, boys. He got a 50 degrees shift his way.
We couldn’t get there in time and he was able to close in on us. Tom’s going to have to tack one more time, will have enough speed to stop Ben? I think we’re probably going to tack on him here. We are going to be slow, stand by….
– Going, going big wind. – All right. So we talk back towards them and it was like this is on actually, it’s just closing right up and it was getting better, better and better Let’s keep this speed. Yeah. Yeah, it is tight, but this is the moment. Will all the Australians blow
The breeze of the British Australia turn. Great Britain’s foiling faster than the Australians. Can they come alongside if they can get overlapped alongside the Australians… They have to keep clear! Here we go! Australia have got to get out of the way. Crucial moment here!
Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Whoa. Ben Ainslie at the top of his lungs! “Get out of the way!” I don’t know if Ben realizes, but we’ve all got our own comms on a noise cancelling headphones. I saw his arm flailing around but I didn’t hear him yelling.
– Get out of the way! Get out of the way! – Protesting… It was a bit animated I thought. It’s going to be a protest from Ainslie. Look at him! – Protest! Protest! What a moment! Brilliant move! He’s got the wind blocked. And Sir Ben Ainslie, Hannah Mills, the rest of the crew
Delivered a masterful performance just when you thought they were out. – You have done it! – Nice, guys. Well, Emirates GBR couldn’t topple the Aussies in San Francisco’s Grand Final. But oh, my, They’ve beat them fair and square here in Saint-Tropez. What we have done as team is back each other up,
We’ve had confidence whilst we haven’t had the results and that loyalty to the team is finally starting to show strength. And it’s a second win in a row for Emirates Great Britain, here in Taranto. Sir Ben Ainslie is back and the British are the team of the moment. Welcome to Dubai.
There’s many things to watch out for this weekend on the last Grand Prix of the year. Jimmy Spithill, who was replaced by Taylor Canfield in the USA team, well, he’s now racing for Australia. He’s replacing Tom Slingsby, who’s on paternity leave. And also all eyes on the team
With the most victories so far this season: Emirates GBR led by Sir Ben Ainslie. – Boutros… Hey. There’s Giles. Nice to meet you. And Goobs. So this event, Giles is going to sit with Rob, the coach. So he’s going to help us maybe try this. Maybe try that, you know.
What do you think about the question about youth development in sailing? Is there anything we can do more, do you think? Can we help more? He helped with the school here also. I think it’s really important for any sports person to try and give something back. You know, I’ve had an incredible
Career. I’ve been so fortunate with the support I’ve received from so many people. And I really, really want to put something back into the sport that’s given me so much. – Hi, Ben. – You alright? – Good to see you. – Are you good? Yeah, yeah, You got some time in?
It’s very tricky. What nationality are you going for this week? I actually forget. Can you remind me? Jeez… I was going to say ‘buongiorno’. Jimmy, back in Aussie colors for the first time since 2001. Is any part of the motivation this weekend to show Team USA
That you’ve still got plenty left in the tank? Oh, for sure, no question. I’d love to go out and absolutely smoke those guys. I think it all started with a slightly bigger Red Bull can at the press conference this morning holding that in front of him… you know?
So… it’s good. It’s friendly banter. It’s race three and the fleet is having a really tough time trying to foil in these light wind conditions. That’s right. The fleet stopped using the 29 meter wing since that huge accident in the Kiwi boat in Saint-Tropez. But since then, the light wind races
Have become increasingly difficult with the 24 meter wings. We just get off the water and the forecast is looking not very good for Sunday’s racing. Russell wants to use the 29 meter wings… I wanted to get everyone together because we’ve been yesterday going through all of the data on
The wing failure and all of the videos and so forth. And I decided that basically tomorrow you guys can decide whether you use the 29 meter wing or the 24 meter wing. You have to make that decision by 18:00 tonight. Right? Up to you, guys. Thank you. Oh, look, obviously, having had
The wing fall down all around us in a very, very dramatic scene, and we were incredibly lucky that no one was hurt at the time to then go sailing again with the same wing, the same construction, the same sections back up there again… We were obviously a bit apprehensive.
What does everyone want to do? I’m keen to put the 29 meter wing, and I’m keen everyone does, but not forcing anyone. But yeah, just They were really just trying being really supportive of us being the team with the I suppose the PTSD from the incident that, you know, we were making
The right decision as a group. I mean, Russell’s got a very good point that the show is **** with the 24 meter wing. So… I mean, we all need a good show to keep this league going, right? There’s this group chat with the race management and everyone,
One by one, is submitting what wing size they’re going to use. We’re going 29 meters. Now, by 5:00, 5:40, we’ve got six or seven teams. who’ve decided 29 and there’s a few other teams. I just you can tell they’re still deliberating. What are they going to pick?
We got told we’re using the 29 meter wing again, last time we used that was when that came down in Saint-Tropez. So, you know, it’s a bit easy to sit here and say “oh, all that stuff, just put it behind you and you move on. You look forward”. But that’s not the case.
They’re pretty serious things in life and and in sport, and that’s rattled us at times as a team. But one by one with the time pressure and I think a fair bit of peer pressure, everyone decides, alright, I’m going 29 too, because I don’t want to get caught out there with
Less power than anyone else. Some of the team members were definitely concerned about actually sailing with that wing. But having spoken together, we had a couple of meetings and before we made our decision we were all on the same page.
