Sir Ben Ainslie on the SailGP final and the America's Cup's move to Barcelona

Sir Ben Ainslie reflects on the dramatic finale of the Sail GP season and celebrates the announcement of the next America’s Cup venue

Tension around the Sail GP Grand Final has been brewing for a while with the top three teams battling it out in a winner-takes-all million-dollar race. The stage was set with San Francisco “guaranteed” to offer 15 to 25 knots blowing under the Golden Gate Bridge, and the iconic shoreline with the Alcatraz backdrop expected to lure in the American audience, which is key to building a fan base for the sport.

Sadly, due to several unforced errors, we narrowly missed out on the final after finishing the season in fourth place overall. This left Jimmy Spithill’s USA team, Nathan Outteridge’s team Japan and Tom Slingsby’s team Australia on the start line duking it out for overall victory.

As ever in sailing nothing is guaranteed, and the weather didn’t play ball. For the first time since anyone can remember it came in from a different direction with highly changeable conditions. To add to the drama a whale also decided to park itself in the middle of the racecourse and delay proceedings for more than half an hour. Maybe it was hoping to take a cut of the prize fund?

In the end, the Aussies led from start to finish to take a deserved victory. Having won the final three events of the season it would have felt like daylight robbery if one of the other finalists had taken the race and, with it, overall victory.

Time to reflect

Looking back at Season Two, it has been a crazy period. Credit must go to Russell Coutts and  the team at the league for navigating through such a tumultuous period through the pandemic. To keep the “show on the road” took a lot of perseverance and flexibility as countries’ borders opened and closed.

The competition on the water has been riveting and has become increasingly compelling as the teams have grown more consistent. There have also been plenty of thrills and spills. Rather annoyingly, our GBR team has provided many of those spills, but the action is full-on, and it is genuinely a thrilling experience for all the sailors involved. Importantly, the audience figures are starting to show steady growth. While they are still a fraction of the figures that a sport like Formula 1 has, we can see that the projections are starting to stack up, which shows this series has huge potential.

Meaningful change

Off the water the Impact League – which tracks the positive actions Sail GP teams make to reduce their overall carbon footprint and help accelerate inclusivity in sailing – has been a huge success. Creating a competitive spirit in finding innovative solutions to climate change is a master stroke. I am also proud of our rebranding with the GBR franchise and furthering our commitment to being a climate-responsible sports team by creating the “Protect Our Future” banner with our charitable partner, the 1851 Trust. Hannah Mills, recently crowned the most successful female Olympic sailor, is a key driver for the team in this sector.

Barcelona bound

Finally, I must mention the announcement that the 37th America’s Cup will be staged in Barcelona. This venue has everything from consistent winds, great shore-side facilities and of course being based in one of the world’s most exciting cities. Most importantly for BOAT readers there should be plenty of opportunities to view the racing up close in your own yachts. The television editing of the Cup has improved hugely in recent times but there is still nothing that quite beats the atmosphere of being out on the water witnessing the show with your own eyes. I look forward to seeing you there.

To learn about the Protect our Future climate education platform, visit protectourfuture.org