The Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team is back in action in New York, following a win at the inaugural ROCKWOOL Canada Sail Grand Prix earlier this month. Emirates GBR Driver Giles Scott secured his first victory in Halifax, after taking over the role from Sir Ben Ainslie in January.
Beginning tomorrow (Saturday, 22 June), the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix marks the penultimate stop on the Season 4 calendar before the winner-takes-all Grand Final in San Francisco (13-14 July). The fast and furious racing action will unfold just metres from the waterfront of Governors Island against the iconic backdrop of the New York skyline. Scott said his team was feeling “very positive” off the back of the win in Canada and were “hopeful we can do it again this weekend”.
Scott added: “It’s amazing to be here in New York, the race course looks great with some pretty impressive views of the city. The forecast looks quite tricky for the weekend, with a bit of thunderstorm dodging on the cards. It’s nice to come here after a good event in Canada, where the team did an amazing job in some difficult conditions. We worked hard and performed well, so we’re excited to step forward form that in New York and hopefully come away with a good result.”
Emirates GBR CEO Sir Ben Ainslie said the team put on a “seriously impressive performance in Canada”.
Ainslie said: “When you look back at previous events, such as Bermuda, where the team struggled to get off the start line in those lighter airs, Halifax was a massive step up and a real team effort. It will be great to hopefully see them build on this in New York and San Francisco.”
While SailGP athletes are used to flying high above the water on their foiling F50 race boats, on Friday morning they were flying high over New York City, with a photoshoot at Edge Observation Deck. Sitting on the 100th floor of 30 Hudson Yards, Edge is the highest outdoor Skydeck in the Western Hemisphere, with a glass floor and 360-degree views of the city.
After coming back to ground level, all 10 teams took to the water on New York Harbor on Friday for practice racing, with official racing getting underway on Saturday from 21:30 BST