Spain Stuns Australia and New Zealand To Steal SailGP Championship Title
It was a great day for Spain this weekend. As Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon, they also won the UEFA Euro Cup football championship and, last but not least, after the French literally crashed and burned on the final turn in Sunday’s first race, Spain went on to win SailGP’s Grand Final in San Francisco!
Spain foiled top teams Australia and New Zealand to steal the Season 4 championship title as driver Diego Botin and his team barely scraped into the Grand Final following a very disappointing day on Saturday.
The story on Saturday was France moving into third place by rocking their starts and taking a first and two thirds. Spain, formerly in third place overall, completely punted with two last-place starts, and finished the day with a 7-7-5. More excitement came with a tight finish between Canada and Denmark, with Canada on the inside and Denmark above. Skipper Phil Robertson held Denmark high of the mark, then bore away to make the finish, but instead sailed right into the soft, inflatable finish mark.
Sunday saw the tide turn between France and Spain. France once again was off with a good start in the first race but lost control on a leeward rounding, putting Spain and France neck and neck in fourth and fifth place. France ended up at the weather mark on port and tried a much-too-close tack at the mark, hitting Denmark and breaking their own starboard rudder. With France unable to repair their rudder for the second race of the day, Spain was left to cruise into the three-way final with New Zealand and Australia.
In the pre-start, the favored Kiwis and Aussies seemed to be racing each other, allowing Spain to capture the start. Spain’s lead was marginal, but that was all they needed. Disaster struck Australia on the penultimate leg of the race when a messy maneuver caused the triple-SailGP champions to fall off the foils, while the Kiwis were never really in it. Spain looked rattled on Saturday, and France fell apart on Sunday, but Spain kept their cool for the winner-take-all $2 million prize Grand Final by defeating the three-time Aussie world champions and the 2024 season leaders New Zealand.
Botin has paid tribute to the support of SailGP boss Russell Coutts, and revealed that the team suffered boat damage in the last moments of the podium final.
“He [Coutts] believed in a very young team with no experience in this type of racing and we’ve gone through very hard moments,” said Botin. “He was the only one telling us ‘guys, you will get there;’ without him we could not have done what we have done today.
“I was quite nervous because in the last jibe we got something in the rudder and the feeling was very bad,” Botin said. “Australia was close to us and I thought we might be in a bad situation, but when we looked back we saw they were far away and we knew we would win.”
Overall it was a fun event on the Cityfront. Saturday and Sunday started gray and cool without much wind predicted. By showtime the air was warm, the breeze strong without being a July gale, and the flood-current waters were flat. It was very pleasant spectating. While the event wasn’t a sellout, the shoreside stands were full, though the overall event scale seemed similar to or slightly smaller and quieter than last year. This could be summer dates compared to spring dates last year. The action on the water is marked by two peak moments: the intense first mark rounding after the start and last rounding to the finish, both happening right in front of the grandstands. Most of the rest of the racing you watch on the big screens. For all the setup on land and enormous staffing to cater to local crowds and move this show around the world, one would hope for larger local attendance.
With the close of Season 4, Season 5 kicks off quickly, beginning and ending in the United Arab Emirates. The first event will be held November 23-24, and the Grand Final will move from San Francisco to UAE and be held on the weekend of November 29-30, 2025. San Francisco will stay in the mix as one of four events in the Americas with three in the US and one in Brazil. The 2025 US events are Los Angeles, March 15-16; San Francisco, March 22-23; and then Brazil for May 3-4 before finishing up the tour of the Americas with New York on June 7-8. Between the opener in November and the Americas, the event travels to New Zealand and Australia, and following the Americas it heads to Europe before the Grand Final in November 2025.
The Spanish upset of New Zealand and Australia made for a spectacular, fairy-tale finish for the young team and the league. You can read more on the Grand Final and the tumultuous 4th Season in the upcoming August edition of Latitude 38!
Pacific Cup Crowd Gathers for Send-Off Celebration
In advance of the starts in the 22nd Pacific Cup today, Wednesday and Thursday, Richmond Yacht Club packed the clubhouse for a joyful bon voyage party on Saturday.
The weather forecast for today’s start calls for light wind. “We can’t control the weather,” says principal race officer Michael Moradzadeh. “We worked to pick a start date with a good current helping folks out the Gate, and a full moon once they are out there, as well as a likely good offshore weather pattern, historically, but the stuff right outside the Gate looks like a challenge.”
The most promising start day, according to weather forecasts, will be for the six fast boats starting on Thursday. The slower boats and two doublehanded divisions start today.
You can follow the trek out the Golden Gate and beyond via the race tracker. Access it on the Pac Cup website under “Follow the Race.” Race organizers are postponing the traditional four-hour tracker delay until Monday night. While the boats are in view of land, they’ll also be visible on websites such as www.marinetraffic.com.
We’ll post updates on Pacific Cup progress here on ‘Lectronic Latitude, and we’re planning a feature report for the September issue of Latitude 38.
Don’t Miss the 39th Plastic Classic Regatta
What To Do When Those Boat Bits Take Over the Garage
“Don’t worry, it’ll all be out of here in a few weeks.” Sound familiar? It’s probably a well-used line that has enabled many a sailor to turn a multipurpose space into boat gear storage unit. That time they wanted to buy a project boat: “It’s all there, I just need to put it back together.” And that time they wanted to do a bit of a makeover on the other boat: “I just need to get all the gear off so I can sand and paint.” Fast forward an undeterminable length of time, and the garage that was once used for a car and other assorted collective items is now, you guessed it, full of random boat hardware and accessories.
What does one do about it? The more you can get out of the garage, the more you will find the pieces you need or really do want to keep. But where to start? One of the aforementioned boats came with lots of spares. “Great!” Except many of them didn’t fit the boat. In all fairness, there have been a few attempts at paring down the pile, or, at the very least, reorganizing so it looks like less. This latest effort did unearth a few candidates for the “sell” pile.
One example is this beautifully crafted rocking seat. Perfect for those moments when the seas are tossing the boat around and you just want to be able to sit reasonably level.
Since the Rocking Horse’s asking price is less than $1,000 (actually less than $100) we can place the ad and photo in Latitude’s Classified section, for free!
And then there’s this binnacle with a large, easy-to-read, compass. Again, a free ad.
Seriously. Something has to be done, and today is the day. The two items above have joined the ranks of “Seeking new forever home.” There must be someone who needs them. The saying, “One person’s trash is another’s treasure” can’t have made itself up. We believe there are people who need these and other spare, unusual, hard-to-find (or any other description) items for their boat or project. Therefore we’re adding these to the Classy Classifieds‘ Boat Gear section, which, we’re happy to mention, is now free for items under $1000, and now includes a photo. Woohoo! The garage will be empty in no time. At least, that’s until some other boat bits come to fill the gaps. But we’ll cross that ocean when we come to it.
Happy selling! (Just don’t show the other listings to you-know-who.)
Classy Classifieds — If you’re selling a boat, add your listing by 5 p.m. today to be included in the August issue of Latitude 38.
Need Some Extra Funding for Your Marine Studies?
Pacific Coast Congress of Harbormasters and Port Managers (PCC) is calling for applications to the Barbara Schwantes Fund (BSF). Scholarships and grants are available within PCC’s region — Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, and the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The scholarships are for individuals planning to enroll or currently enrolled in a post-secondary program in a marine-related field. Two- and four-year degree programs, as well as certificate programs, are eligible, including marine science, marine education, marine engineering, facility operations, boatbuilding and repair, engine repair, marine surveying, and more.
Project grants are designed for projects that help promote the recreational and commercial boating industry and conservation, and that also raise the awareness of the PCC. Examples include youth boating and sailing clubs, teams, and camps; community marine outreach programs; waterway and shoreline conservation efforts; and more.
Don’t miss out on free money! Applications are due July 31.
For additional information visit https://www.pccharbormasters.org/scholarships-grants/ or contact Wendy Larimer at (800) 236-0748, or email [email protected].
The PCC is a nonprofit organization established in 1974. Its aim is to provide educational opportunities to those who serve the commercial and recreational boating public.
- Northern California Racing
- General Sailing
- Pacific Cup Profiles
- Racing
- Current News
- Events
- West Coast Sailing
Pacific Cup 2024 — They’re Off!
Just as we hit the publish button, Ira Potekhina of White Raven Media sent us a couple of photos from this year’s Pacific Cup start. Not as sunny as the celebration at Richmond Yacht Club, but there’s enough breeze to get them going and on their way to the sunshine in Hawaii.
Though today’s boats are the ‘slow boats’ and doublehanders, they looked trimmed for speed and will be working hard to win on the race course.
The last two starts are coming on Wednesday with first start at 11:30 and Thursday at 12:30.
A ‘Save The Dater’: Latitude 38 Baja Ha-Ha Fall Crew Party
