SailGP Chicago Raced in a Windless Windy City

When SailGP arrived in the “Windy City” of Chicago there was plenty of breeze to spare, enough to keep the fleet off the water for a critical practice day, but when it came to the podium final two days later it was sailed at a snail’s pace with little or no wind at all!

That said, it was a successful weekend for the New Zealand team. The Kiwis found just enough wind to hold off their archrivals from the “land down under” to capture the first event of Season 4 and celebrate with the traditional showers of champagne over an enthusiastic, sold-out crowd at Navy Pier.

The defending champions, Team Australia, will leave Chicago with plenty of second-place points to jump-start their year, and Team Canada right behind with a third-place podium finish.

After an action-packed first day of racing, winds barely nudged above 6 knots at best, and hovered around 2.5 to 3 knots for the podium final, making it challenging for teams to get up and foiling over the fresh waters of Lake Michigan.

Crews had a full setup change overnight, to race with just four crew and 29-meter wings slapped onboard to make the most of the light breeze.

Just as “Mother Nature” can either giveth or taketh away, Chicago can provide the best of action or, unfortunately, the least of it. The winds can be flighty and fickle, or they can deliver the “powered by nature” action SailGP series fans expect.

“This puts us in a great position at the start of the season and we’re really happy to walk away with the first win,” said Peter Burling, Team New Zealand skipper. “When it’s light, you look around and you’ve got all the time in the world, but it’s amazing how such a short racecourse can have so much going on. You make one little mistake and it’s so easy to get passed.”

But that didn’t mean the day was without drama, with a game of strategy playing out on Chicago’s skyline stadium.

“Obviously we wish we were out there foiling and ripping around for everyone here and the spectators at home, but that is our sport, unfortunately; if there is no wind it’s not very exciting,” Aussie skipper and CEO Tom Slingsby said. “We came back after some really bad positions today and comfortably made the final, and then the final was what it was. Look, we’re very happy and we sailed really well.”

“Our team did a great job making the most of what little breeze we had. We love coming here; we would have preferred to sail in that northerly we had on Friday,” Burling said. “In the light air, it’s an absolute battle being in the pack, but if you can be in those top couple of boats, you can just sail away.”

“I think everyone would prefer to be sailing in a bit more breeze, to be honest, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Burling continued. “We gained speed by putting the daggerboard up and down, using the hydraulic pump to push the boat forward. It was looking like a pretty easy race; we were just going to lay down and tack around the final mark and be gone, but then the Aussies and Canadians got a massive helicopter puff and it was a little stressful on all of us, but we decided to stick to our original plan and it ended up working out.”

“It’s a real challenge here; it’s a great track! It’s shifty, it’s patchy, you get flat water, it’s bumpy, you really get everything. I love the Chicago racetrack,” Slingsby said. “It’s our sport, you have to play the conditions.”

It was another challenging weekend for Team USA, who now start the season in ninth place, and if not for the German team’s maiden event in the league, would have landed in the basement.

“Look, obviously there was no wind, it’s the same for everyone, you just have to do the best you can. You have to try to keep the boat moving and ultimately just try to get through it,” said Team USA Skipper Jimmy Spithill. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We were in some good positions and then we just made some critical mistakes and we can’t let that happen.”

SailGP now heads to the Port of Los Angeles next month for recently announced dates off San Pedro on July 22 and 23.

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