SailGP, an international sailboat racing circuit, backed by Oracle founder Larry Ellison and well-respected sailor Russell Coutts, is set to host its final, championship races in the San Francisco Bay this weekend, with the grand prize for the winning team amounting to $2 million.
The competition, whose founder Ellison was once quoted professing his love for the "idyllic independence" of sailing and has been touted as Formula One on the waves by Coutts, was founded in 2018 with the hopes of taking competitive sailing beyond cloistered country clubs and propel it into the mainstream.
"What we're seeing is [that] this isn't the avid sailing fan that's following SailGP, maybe 10% of our audience is that. It's really the racing fan, the general sports fan, and it's also the people that are interested in the backstory of our athletes," said Coutts in a Friday interview with CNBC, adding later that he doesn't feel it would be unreasonable for teams to be selling for $80 million price tags sometime in the next year.
This tidal wave of success can be attributed to a number of factors, but by far, the sport's most profound sea change has been the advent of F50 catamarans, sailboats capable of navigating the waves at highway speeds, velocities long thought impossible by sailors in years past.
"[Our sailboats are] above the water, not in the water, and our goal is to stay flying as long as possible," said Peter Kinney, a California native and sailor for the United States' SailGP team.
SailGP's rising current of broad appeal can be attributed to other factors as well, namely its inclusivity to women and its commitment to sustainability. On its website, it says that the organization is "...racing for a better future and believe sport has the power to change the world."
San Francisco as a location was a perfect fit for a climactic race in the eyes of the organizers.
"San Francisco is really the best racetrack. The breeze is consistent, and the sailors love it," said Alex Reid, SailGP's director of performance engineering. Others, such as Team USA strategist Mike Buckley, describe the Bay as "one of the most beautiful places in the world to sail."
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These favorable conditions, combined with such a large prize being on the line, leaves confidence high that each team involved will be in close competition all the way through, as sailors try their hardest to be the first to surge across the finish line.
"We're expecting the race to be tight, exciting, racing on the edge," Buckley said.
