SAN FRANCISCO — A new league dedicated to high-speed sailing in cutting-edge catamarans will be in action in the San Francisco Bay this weekend.
This is the first year of the SailGP league with teams from Australia, China, France, Great Britain, Japan and the United States and the financial support of software tycoon Larry Ellison.
The initial competition was held in Sydney, Australia in February. Stop number two is San Francisco, which is well-suited for this speed-racing.
“As the land heats up you get what’s called a sea breeze,” said practice race announcer Tom Herbert-Evans on Tuesday.
“And what we’re seeing right now is the sea breeze coming in. You see it was overcast this morning, all (of those) clouds burned off, sucking that cool air in from the sea and that’s why this is a beautiful venue for sailing because it creates kind of a consistent, you know, at two o’clock every day you’re most likely going to a have good sailing conditions," said Evans.
The goal is to get — and keep -— these boats up on their hydrofoils.
“They’re called the F-50, they are the fastest race boats in the world,” said race spokeswoman Christy Cahill. “We’ve been on a ‘50-knot fever’ this week so we’re trying to break for the first time ever with this type of boat 50-knots in boat speed which is around 60 miles an hour.”
Evans said the practice runs this week will give way to three full race on Saturday, two full races on Sunday and a final match race between the two fastest boats.
“San Francisco is an incredible venue because the wind is so consistent. So this high average wind here, which is great for hitting the 50-knot barrier, (makes it) difficult for the crews to keep the boats under control,” he said.
There will be later stops in the circuit in New York at the end of June, the United Kingdom in August and Marseilles in September.
The plan is to add another race each year until they put 10 competitions on the calendar.