The Canadian SailGP Team is on the hot seat. They have no funding, no event next season, and a skipper that may be the most disliked in the league. Worse, two new fully-funded teams are coming, and the league is building only one boat. Canada is on the list of team’s that could lose their boat for Season 5.
Canada joined the league with a brash owner, and ironically, took another team’s boat for Season 3. Led by 2-time Match Racing World Champion Phil Robertson, who had already helmed for China and Spain, he matches his elite skill with high risk tactics.
But team owner Fred Pye failed to meet funding obligations for Season 4, the league took over the ownership, and its efforts to be relieved of this burden have not been successful. When the league did not renew the popular Season 4 Halifax event, it spoke to how events without teams don’t occur in Season 5.
“Behind the scenes, we are working hard to ensure the team is on the start line when Season 5 begins in November in Dubai,” noted Robertson, “and discussions are already underway for a Canadian event in Season 6.”
That is, if Team Canada survives.
‘Against All Odds’, the team’s Season 3 documentary, is available below:
Season 4 Final Standings (13 events; results and total points)
1. Spain (Diego Botin), 5-1-3-6-6-10-2-5-4-1-4-7-6-(1)
2. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 2-3-2-2-3-2-7-1-10-3-7-4-1-(2)
3. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 1-7-8-DNC/6-4-1-1-3-1-2-5-1-4-(3)
4. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 4-2-4-7-2-6-9-2-9-5-3-8-2
5. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie/Giles Scott), 7-6-1-1-8-5-8-7-7-8-1-3-3
6. Canada (Phil Robertson), 3-4-10-5-5-3-6-10-3-4-6-2-5
7. France (Quintin Delapierre), 6-8-6-4-7-4-4-4-2-9-2-5-7
8. United States (Jimmy Spithill/Taylor Canfield), 9-5-5-3-1-8-3-9-8-10-10-10-9
9. Germany (Erik Heil), 10-10-7-8-9-10-9-5-6-5-6-8-9-8
10. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter/Nathan Outteridge), 8-9-9-9-7-10-8-6-7-9-6-10
For scoring details, click here.
SailGP resumes with Season 5 on November 23-24 in Dubai, UAE. For details, click here.
Season 4 – 2023
June 16-17 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Los Angeles
September 9-10 – France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 23-24 – Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto
October 14-15 – Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía- Cádiz
December 9-10 – Dubai Sail Grand Prix | Dubai*
Season 4 – 2024
January 13-14 – Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi
February 24-25 – Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 4-5 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix
June 1-2 – Canada Sail Grand Prix | Halifax
June 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | New York
July 13-14 – SailGP Season 4 Grand Final | San Francisco
* Added October 3, 2023
Format for Season 4:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Up to seven qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the $300,000.00 USD event prize money purse (increases to $400k for Abu Dhabi with the winning team now earning $200k at each event).
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming the $2 million USD prize.
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will be awarded $350,000.00.
For competition documents, click here.
Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.
