The Foiling 50's Are Coming To San Francisco

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All of the money and time invested in the last round of technology demonstrated in Bermuda for the 35th America's
Cup wont go to waste. Well at least not if Larry Ellison can help it.
The rumors have been circulating that a return of the Foiling 50's was about to be unleashed and those rumors are about to be revealed
October 2nd when the official announcement is made!




All the finale details are being ironed out, but what has been discovered thus far is titillating....




What we know:

The tour kicks off in February in Sydney, then stops in San Francisco ( May) the New York in (June) and will finish with
stops in Europe, Cowes in Aug and Marseille in Sept.

4 Boats, all same-same with identical battery supported foiling systems are ready, 3-4 more await in the wings for teams to claim them.

Format will be fleet racing with a finale match race(s) to decide the series.

A large purse for winner. Losers get participation ribbons.

This will be a moving tour, utilizing mobile villages like the Volvo. There will be no permanent base.

The ambition is to keep the thrill factor alive and encourage more team to participate in this state of the art technology that will wow even the most melancholy landlubber.

[Runs_with_sissors]

It makes more sense than everyone going to Bermuda.

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SAN DIEGO (AP) — Former America’s Cup holders Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts are set to announce a new sailing league called SailGP that will be contested in an enhanced class of foiling 50-foot catamarans, a person familiar with the situation said Friday.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details won’t be announced until Wednesday night in London.
Ellison, the software tycoon who co-founded Oracle Corp., and Coutts, a New Zealander, headed the Oracle Team USA syndicate that won the America’s Cup in 2010 and 2013 before losing it to Emirates Team New Zealand in 2017.

They have been working for several months on the concept of an annual league that will keep alive their vision of competing in fast, cutting-edge catamarans.
Plans call for SailGP to have five regattas in 2019, beginning in mid-February in Sydney, Australia. The other regattas are expected to be held in San Francisco, New York, Great Britain and France. Reports have indicated there will be teams from the United States, Great Britain and Australia, and entries are also expected from France, Japan and China.


While SailGP isn’t intended to compete directly with the America’s Cup, it will launch two years before the next America’s Cup, which is scheduled for 2021 in Auckland, New Zealand.
As CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority prior to the 2017 regatta, Coutts championed continuity and stability via a framework agreement that called for matches in 2019 and 2021 in foiling catamarans. Emirates Team New Zealand was the only team that didn’t sign it, and the Kiwis, in conjunction with Challenger of Record Luna Rossa Challenge of Italy, decided to sail the 36th America’s Cup in a new class of foiling, single-hulled boats called the AC75.

The SailGP catamarans will be called F50s — the F stands for foiling — and will be considered a new class. The fleet for 2019 will be a combination of AC50s used in the 2017 America’s Cup that were dismantled and redesigned, and new boats built in New Zealand. While they will look similar to the AC50s, they are expected to be faster and will be sailed by crews of five rather than six. The catamarans rise up on hydrofoils and skim across the tops of the waves.

The GP in SailGP stands for Grand Prix. In recent years, top-level sailing events, particularly the America’s Cup, have compared themselves to auto racing’s Formula One due to radical technological advancements in boat design and TV-friendly formats.

Coutts, a five-time America’s Cup winner, and Ellison first won the America’s Cup together when Oracle Team USA sailed a 90-foot trimaran to victory over Alinghi of Switzerland’s catamaran in a one-off match in 2010. They scaled back to 72-foot catamarans for the 2013 America’s Cup and then to 50-footers last year in Bermuda.
While Coutts served as non-sailing CEO for Oracle Team USA, he previously won the America’s Cup three times as a skipper, twice with Team New Zealand and once with Alinghi. He sailed undefeated through three straight America’s Cup matches.


Plans call for Ellison to financially back the league initially until it moves to a franchise model.
The Australian team is expected to be headed by Tom Slingsby, who held a key role with Oracle Team USA in 2013 and 2017, and won a gold medal in the London Olympics. Last week, Sky News reported that Sir Keith Mills will have a role in running the British leg of the league. A spokeswoman for Mills’ Origin Sports Group declined comment but confirmed Wednesday night’s news conference.

The American team could include Rome Kirby, a former crewmember with Oracle Team USA and the son of former America’s Cup sailor Jerry Kirby.

[Panama Red]

I am curious as to where they will launch from in SF.

Piers 30-32?

[Charlie Tuna]

That or Treasure Island would be my guess, IS pier 80 still an option?

They need a shore side party location for corporate big wigs, unless they charter some large yachts.

[IOR Geezer]

The pier at Clipper Cove is still intact, and Oracle has used TI for years for annual celebration.

My money would be there.

[Charlie Tuna]

Seems logical!

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SAILGP Launches New Era In Sailing



DATES

TEAMS


SailGP global racing league unveiled at spectacular London launch
- SailGP set to redefine sailing with thrilling new fan-centric grand prix racing circuit
- International league to feature six national teams, visiting five iconic, inshore venues starting with Sydney in February 2019
- Teams will race identical wingsailed F50s – supercharged catamarans capable of breaking the 50-knot barrier
- Season culminates with single, $1 million match-race final between top two teams

https://sailgp.com/


LONDON – SailGP today set out to redefine sailing with the launch of its new global racing league: five grand prix events featuring six national teams on identical wingsailed F50s – the world’s fastest, most technologically advanced catamarans. Spearheaded by Larry Ellison and Sir Russell Coutts, in season one, SailGP will bring intensely competitive, high-speed inshore racing to fans in Sydney; San Francisco; New York; Cowes, U.K.; and Marseille, France, as world-class crews compete for the championship trophy and a $1 million prize.

Kicking off in February 2019, SailGP’s inaugural season will feature teams representing six countries – Australia, China, France, Great Britain, Japan and the United States. Each five-person crew will race on identical 50-foot foiling catamarans. A new boat class, the F50 is a redesigned, supercharged incarnation of the exceptional AC50 used for the 35th America’s Cup last year. Twelve months in development at the hands of pioneering technicians and engineers at Core Builders Composites in New Zealand, the F50s are expected to break the 50-knot (60mph/100kph) barrier.

The F50 is a revolutionary new concept in sailboat racing. A showcase of cutting-edge technology developed over the past 10 years.

Powered by a 24-meter wingsail and flying above the water on hydrofoils, the F50 marks a huge step forward. The new upgrades are expected to produce a 15 percent performance gain across most racing conditions compared to the AC50 class of 2017.

The F50 is predicted to exceed 50 knots of boat speed.

The entire fleet has been extensively modified with new foils and board cases, new rudders and elevators, new hydraulics and electronics, a new cockpit layout for five crew, a new steering system, and a new flight control system operated by a joy stick. The beam fairings and systems have been refined to allow more efficient pack up and assembly.

The foil rake, cant, wing twist and jib sheet adjustments will be powered by battery, making it possible for them to be adjusted by at least three crew members. The wing sheet adjustment will be powered manually by the two grinders.

Rudder pitch will be actively controlled allowing the trim/attitude of the boat to be set irrespective of the ride height.

SailGP is the evolution of sailing. With equally incredible technology across our one-design fleet, we expect to see thrillingly close and competitive racing amongst national teams. And, with a modern, consistent format, SailGP will provide a new opportunity for talented sailors who want to race for their countries. Larry Ellison, SailGP founder

SailGP distills all of the most successful, exciting and relevant elements of high-performance, professional racing, while adding the extra edge that comes with nation-versus-nation competition. We are aiming to be pioneers of new technologies, boat design, commercial partnerships and global audience engagement. But with every crew on the same groundbreaking F50 catamaran, this isn’t a tech arms race, rather the ultimate test to establish the best sailing team in advanced foiling catamarans. Russell Coutts, SailGP CEO

Sanctioned by World Sailing, each grand prix will comprise two competition days with five fleet races, culminating in a final match race between the two leaders. After SailGP’s Sydney inauguration in February (15-16), the league moves on to San Francisco in May (4-5), New York in June (21-22), and Cowes in August (10-11), before the Marseille final in September (20-22), which features a winner-takes-all, $1 million championship match race between the season’s top two teams to conclude three days of racing.

“World Sailing is thrilled to be working with SailGP to bring a new, exciting and fan-friendly elite racing league to life,” said World Sailing CEO Andy Hunt. “SailGP is an ambitious project that is spearheaded by an incredible forward-thinking leadership team. We’re excited about SailGP’s commitment to innovate and advance the sport forward and by working in partnership, we will aim to inspire millions more people to fall in love with sailing.”





SailGP was created by Ellison and Coutts, who have been instrumental in the commercial development of competitive sailing. The innovative new professional sailing league – featuring an ongoing calendar of premium global racing among national teams in the world’s most advanced catamarans – will engage the next generation of fans and create a pathway for future sailors. SailGP will be a commercially driven sports property, eventually maturing to a franchise model.

Renowned luxury house Louis Vuitton, which partners with the world’s biggest sporting events and packs the most legendary trophies; Oracle, industry-leading global provider of enterprise cloud computing; and Land Rover, the world’s leading manufacturer of premium all-wheel-drive vehicles, join SailGP as founding partners. Additional details and sponsors will be announced at a future date.

With a primary goal of growing global viewership and broadening its fanbase, SailGP’s broadcast plans focus on comprehensive live coverage complemented by centrally produced highlight programs, and cutting-edge screen applications and services. Whisper Films has been appointed as the league’s host broadcast production partner and will play a key role in delivering a personality-driven broadcast utilizing patented and leading-edge immersive media technologies, while Talisman Sports and Media is handling global media rights distribution.

The Great Britain SailGP Team was also introduced to home fans during the London launch. Skippered by Rio 2016 Olympian and world champion Dylan Fletcher, Great Britain’s vastly experienced crew includes Olympic bronze medalist Chris Draper as team CEO and wing trimmer, Olympic silver medalist Stuart Bithell as flight controller, and Olympic champion rower Matt Gotrel and Extreme Sailing Series winner Richard Mason as grinders.

“The concept of SailGP immediately excited me,” said Great Britain helmsman Dylan Fletcher. “This league allows us to compete with and against the best, and to challenge ourselves in every way possible while sailing the world’s fastest catamarans. We have the opportunity to push the limits of our sport, and this is a very proud chapter in my career. What Larry and Russell have created is truly unique, and I am confident it will capture the attention of audiences around the world.”

The launch event took place at Tower Bridge in London. Following the formal program hosted by ITV’s Ben Shephard and featuring addresses by Ellison, Coutts, Hunt and members of the Great Britain SailGP Team, a visual and sensory display on the Thames’ South Bank provided a first look at what SailGP will bring to audiences around the world.

ABOUT SAILGP
SailGP is sailing redefined. Established in 2018 and headquartered in London and San Francisco, SailGP is an annual, global sports league featuring bold, cutting-edge technology and awe-inspiring athleticism. The fan-centric, inshore racing takes place in some of the most iconic harbors around the globe and culminates with a $1 million winner-takes-all match race. Rival national teams from Australia, China, France, Great Britain, Japan and the United States battle it out in identical supercharged F50 catamarans, engineered for intense racing at electrifying speeds exceeding 50 knots (nearly 60 mph/100 kph).

ABOUT
SailGP is sailing redefined. Established in 2018 and headquartered in London and San Francisco, SailGP is an annual, global sports league featuring bold, cutting-edge technology and awe-inspiring athleticism. The fan-centric, inshore racing takes place in some of the most iconic harbors around the globe and culminates with a $1 million winner-takes-all match race. Rival national teams battle it out in identical supercharged F50 catamarans, engineered for intense racing at electrifying speeds exceeding 50 knots (nearly 60 mph/100 kph).

FORMAT
SailGP will utilize short-format, inshore stadium racing to maximize impact and excitement. Each grand prix will include two competition days featuring a total of five fleet races leading to a final match race between the two leaders. Points will be accumulated in each race throughout the season, culminating with a final match race between the top two teams for the SailGP Championship, with a USD $1 million purse and trophy presented to the winning team.

GOVERNANCE
SailGP racing is sanctioned by World Sailing, and boasts an internationally acclaimed race management team headed by Regatta Director Iain Murray, Olympian and former America’s Cup helmsman. Richard Slater, one of the world's top international judges and vice chairman of the World Sailing Racing Rules Committee, is serving as chief umpire and chairman of racing rules. In addition to relying on its sailing experts, SailGP will utilize modern electronic race management and remote umpiring to ensure consistency, fairness and safety.

NATIONALITY
SailGP’s nationality rules are currently being finalized by World Sailing. While the majority of SailGP teams will be fully comprised of athletes native to the country they are representing, select countries without the experience necessary to safely and competitively power the F50 boats will be provided a pathway to build to 100 percent nationality. In season one, China and Japan will be designated as developing teams, and will start with a 40 percent nationality requirement, which will increase by 20 percent annually. On the individual side, the nationality rules will be narrow, and sailors will not be eligible to compete for more than one country, with a variety of criteria required to satisfy nationality requirements.

SAFETY
SailGP is built on the talent and athleticism of its world-class crews, and their safety is the league’s top priority. The boats are engineered, and the competition is formatted for fast-paced, intense racing. But SailGP is also setting new safety standards, with the latest technology and clothing, equipment and training all geared toward keeping its stars safe.

FUNDING & CENTRALIZED SERVICE MODEL
SailGP is being fully underwritten by Larry Ellison, a passionate sailor who has been personally and financially committed to the growth and advancement of sailing for multiple decades. The framework for the league will mature over time as it becomes commercially viable and with the adoption of a franchise model. In an effort to reduce operational costs for all teams and avoid duplication of personnel and facilities, shared services will be utilized in a number of critical areas. On the sailing side, design, shore logistics, boats and equipment transportation will be handled by SailGP. A number of business and commercial services will also be provided centrally.

BROADCAST
SailGP has appointed Whisper Films as its global production partner to deliver exciting and impactful programming to broadcast rights holders throughout the world. With a goal of widening appeal and growing viewership, SailGP broadcasts will highlight personality-driven content, and enhanced pre- and post-race analysis. Programming will be available in a variety of formats with a focus on free-to-air television and OTT platforms, and will feature an augmented version of the LiveLine™ technology that to greatly enrich the viewer experience.

YOUTH PROGRAMMING
Starting by season two, SailGP will launch global youth sailing programs to leave a sporting legacy in each market. The youth programs will provide opportunities for young sailors to develop via school programs and yacht clubs, creating a pathway to professional racing.

SUSTAINABILITY
SailGP strongly believes in respecting and protecting the ocean and surrounding environment, and is committed to responsible intentions and practices. Sustainability efforts are and will continue to be a priority for SailGP, and an initial goal is working toward the elimination of plastic waste during all races.

[Runs_with_sissors]

So it begins!

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Core Builders Release

CORE BUILDERS COMPOSITES BUILDS WINGSAILED FOILING F50 CATAMARANS FOR SAILGP

After 12 months of hard work, we are excited to announce our involvement with SailGP as supplier of wingsailed foiling F50 catamarans and support services for SailGP.

The F50 one-design class is born out of the AC50 class with all of the platforms and appendages being one-designed and the wing performance standardised. This ambitious project has included the following activities at our Warkworth facility:

- Construction of three new F50 platforms, and modification and standardisation of three previous AC50 platforms

- Construction of 28 dagger foils as two sets of seven pairs, and seven pairs of rudders with two sets of elevators per rudder. An appendage package that has been optimised for a wide range of racing conditions

- Standardisation of seven wingsails

- Outfitting of new one-design electronics, hydraulics, steering and control systems.

- Support of the SailGP Tech Services Team with the outfitting of containers and chase boats for the 2019 season

As part of the platform upgrades, the connections of beams, fairings and systems have been streamlined to allow more efficient assembly, pack-up, and maintenance so that the boats can efficiently move between different continents and venues.

The scope of work for SailGP includes that Core Builders Composites will be constructing future modifications on an ongoing basis, as part of a planned development program to ensure the boats continue to evolve and remain at the cutting edge of sailing/performance/development.



This has been a massive project for Core Builders Composites and we appreciate the support of our suppliers in making this happen – including MS Engineering, Pure Design, C-Tech, Doyle Sails and Rayglass.

A special thanks to Northport and Marsden Maritime Holdings who have provided essential support and have been key to ensuring that the sea trials involving six international teams will take place in the ideal location of Northland New Zealand.



We are looking forward to seeing these boats race again!

https://www.corebuilderscomposites.c...GP-Launch.html

[Prince of Whales]

You would think they would have all the team members ready to announce as well.

[Angry Dolphin]

Only 2 days in SF?

WTF?

[Panama Red]

Only 2 days in SF?

WTF?

Doesn't sound like they will hardly get their foils wet.

The will most likely be 3-5 days of practice/promo ahead of the main event.

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Chisholms Take

Yacht Racing.Life's Justin Chisholm provide some indepth insight to the new program:


New Zealand yachtsman Sir Russell Coutts is a man on a mission. The 56-year old Kiwi sailor – who has won more world championships than he can likely remember, along with an Olympic gold medal and five America’s Cups – is trying to transform professional yacht racing from its current niche status, into a widely-popular and self-sustaining sport.

He has had this vision for quite a while now and tried more than once to drag the sport that he loves kicking and screaming into the mainstream spotlight. Now though with the glitzy launch on a balmy night in London on Wednesday of SailGP – a new international professional sailing league – Coutts looks set to see his long-held dream become a reality.

SailGP will see six new professional yacht racing teams competing over five international events in the new league’s inaugural season next year. The crews will be made up of some of the most exciting young talent there is in the professional sailing world right now, including past America’s Cup sailors, Olympians and other high-performance sailing experts.

They will be racing in what can surely be safely be called the fastest boats on the planet right now, 50-foot fully-foiling F50 catamarans, estimated to be capable of top speeds up to 54 knots (62 miles per hour/100 kilometres per hour).

Five events are scheduled for 2019 – Sydney, Australia, San Francisco, USA, New York, USA, Cowes, England, Marseilles, France – but it is hoped to expand soon to 10 teams and 10 events each year in future seasons.

Teams will be country based with strict 100 per cent nationality rules, while the boats will be greatly souped-up and strictly-equalised versions of the AC50s used to such good effect at the last America’s Cup in Bermuda.

To pull all this together Coutts enlisted the help of his long-time collaborator, billionaire businessman Larry Ellison, with whom he won two America’s Cup with Oracle Racing – the team named for the global technology company Ellison founded and still runs.

Coutts says Ellison was keen to get involved with the SailGP concept after losing the America’s Cup to Emirates Team New Zealand in Bermuda in 2017.

“Larry called me and asked me if I wanted to do the America’s Cup again,” Coutts said. “When I told him I didn’t, he said he didn’t want to either and suggested we should do something new.

“He loves sailing as much as I do and so we talked about the possibility of creating a proper professional sailing series. He agreed to underwrite it so that we could do it properly.

“Larry’s belief was that we have learned so many lessons together over the last ten years that we have a really good chance of creating something successful.”

“What we have with SailGP an idea totally without any handcuffs on. This is a blank sheet of paper and making what we believe are the best business decisions based on our experience and what makes logical business sense.”

Coutts has made no secret over the years of his desire to create such a sustainable professional sailing league, but now believes that the experience gained in the three America’s Cup cycles will prove vital to bringing SailGP to fruition.

“I think that if I had been doing this 10 years ago, I don’t think we would have been making as many of the right decisions,” he said. “Now we have realised what works: in a broadcast sense, in an events and hospitality sense, on the branding and how we market an event like this.

“All of these things have evolved over time and it is hard when you are first getting into a new business to make all the right decisions, so I really think we stand a better chance at this today than we would have ten years ago.”

During the last America’s Cup Coutts and Ellison tried to corral the teams into signing a framework agreement that would keep the Bermuda format for the next couple of Cup cycles. Now though he believes it could never have worked as well as he expects the new SailGP concept will do – for two main reasons.

“We knew five years ago that it needed a strong nationality component,” he said. “Larry feels really strongly that the racing needs to be close if it is going to be compelling. If the racing is spread out and one boat is much faster than another one, then it kind of destroys the racing.

“[With the America’s Cup teams] we would never have agreed a nationality rule in that format and they would never have agreed to go one-design. We would never have agreed a lot of the things we are doing now.

“What we have with SailGP an idea totally without any handcuffs on. This is a blank sheet of paper and making what we believe are the best business decisions based on our experience and what makes logical business sense.”

Although they are each slightly different, the new SailGP F50 catamarans have been tightly equalised to the point where the fleet can to all intents and purposes be considered one-design from a performance and operational point of view.

Battery power will be used to drive the flight control system which will be managed by a ‘pilot’ crewmember using a small joystick. The two grinders in the crew will the supply power to control the massive sail plan which includes a gigantic hard-wing mainsail and a conventional soft-sail jib.

Another development is that the angle of attack of the rudder foils can now be dynamically controlled while racing, rather than set in advance as it was on the AC50s. This new functionality is expected to drive a significant performance improvement as well as making the boats somewhat safer to sail.

“It’s at a price point so that it is achievable that these teams can grow brand equity over time and even if an owner tired of being involved, that team would continue to exist. It might be sold or traded, but the team would continue to exist – which how most other professional sports operate.”

Coutts plans for the boats to continue to evolve technically as the new circuit matures and the sailors get more familiar with sailing the boats.

We want to keep the tech element evolving,” he said. “We didn’t want to have one design boats that are going to stagnate for the next ten years. Quite the opposite. We are going to keep evolving them and we are going to accelerate that development through our in-house design team.

“We might say for instance, what’s the best way to develop these boats to be able to race in a broader range of wind strengths? How do we make them faster in lighter winds? Well now we don’t have to say we can’t do that because we have a class rule sitting there stopping any development.

“We can make the right decisions for the business based on what we think is correct. We can stagger those developments out over time so that we are not spending a whole bunch of money in one year – that would be fiscally irresponsible.

“We can research and test changes properly before we roll them out. That way I think we stand a much better chance of success.”

The SailGP organization is expanding fast, opening offices in London and San Francisco where Coutts says they are staffing up aggressively.

“We have established ourselves in those two cities because we want to attract top talent to this – whether it be in graphics or television production or marketing or merchandising –whatever the elements are, we want to attract top talent to this to give it the best chance of success.”

Only the British team was announced at the London launch but the other five team lineups – representing Australia, China, France, Japan and USA – are locked in and will be made public at individual country-centric events over the next three weeks.

With an annual budget of five million US dollars per team, the cost of entry seems surprisingly low for such a high-profile global sporting property.

“All I know is that we are not comparing ourselves to any existing sailing property. We absolutely want to be viewed as new. We don’t want to be viewed as a traditional sailing property, we are not comparing ourselves to anyone else in that market.”

“It’s at a price point where I think there will be two or possibly three teams that are profitable by the end of season one, I am confident of that,” Coutts said, adding: “One might actually be profitable almost from the get-go.

“It’s at a price point so that it is achievable that these teams can grow brand equity over time and even if an owner tired of being involved, that team would continue to exist. It might be sold or traded, but the team would continue to exist – which how most other professional sports operate.

“That means you don’t have all these sailors and families one day waking up and suddenly it’s all over, because the owners have decided not to do it anymore. With most properties in sailing the team exists for a period of time and they might even build a significant brand, and then they’re gone tomorrow.

“You can imagine a sponsor saying, well I was sponsoring something that I thought I liked the look of last year, but it has actually completely changed this year. I think that’s unacceptable and we have got to change that and make sure that this does work as a business model for the long term.”

When asked the obvious questions as to whether SailGP has been created as a competitor to the hallowed America’s Cup and what he believes the organisers of the next edition in 2021 might think about it, Coutts shrugs and gives this steadfast response:

“I don’t know how they will view it frankly. All I know is that we are not comparing ourselves to any existing sailing property. We absolutely want to be viewed as new. We don’t want to be viewed as a traditional sailing property, we are not comparing ourselves to anyone else in that market.

“If there are any comparisons it’s to some of the other successful leagues in other sports – that’s what we are more comparable to I believe. Sure, we have to build to that, but the vision is not to emulate anything else in sailing, it’s to go with a totally new concept and build from there.”

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Sail GP USA Details Released

One Week After Historic Global Launch, SailGP Unveils U.S. Team, Details of Two U.S. Races


The United States SailGP Team, L to R: Hans Henken, Riley Gibbs, Mac Agnese, Rome Kirby (skipper) & Dan Morris.

The five members of the U.S. SailGP Team are: Rome Kirby, 29, of Newport, Rhode Island (helmsman); Riley Gibbs, 22, of Long Beach, California (wing trimmer); Hans Henken, 26, of Coronado, California (flight controller); Mac Agnese, 24, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida (grinder); and Dan Morris, 30, of Newport, Rhode Island (grinder).

One week after the league’s historic global launch, SailGP today announced the members of the United States SailGP Team, and revealed details of its two premier U.S. events, set to take place in San Francisco (May) and New York (June) of next year.




The crew boasts an impressive track record in international racing, with a host of professional ocean racing and world championship honors between them. Kirby will be looking to add SailGP success to his 2013 America’s Cup win, while Morris has a World Match Racing Tour title under his belt. Agnese, Gibbs and former youth world champion Henken are all bidding to represent Team USA at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

“This is a turning point in American sailing,” said SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts. “SailGP is setting out to redefine how top sailors compete and how fans worldwide watch them, with annual races in major cities and a nation-versus-nation format. Rome brings an incredible level of experience, and has built a strong team indicative of the burgeoning development pipeline in the U.S. This is a young, eager and talented group with a bright future.”

Spearheaded by Larry Ellison and Coutts, SailGP will kick off its inaugural season in February 2019. It will feature five grand prix events and six national teams competing on identical wingsailed F50s – the world’s fastest, most technologically advanced catamarans. In addition to the United States, the six teams will represent Australia, China, France, Great Britain and Japan. Each team will have a five-person crew aboard 50-foot foiling catamarans, which are expected to break the 50-knot (or 60 mph) speed barrier.

The intensely competitive, inshore racing events will be held in Sydney (February 15-16); San Francisco (May 4-5); New York (June 21-22); Cowes, UK (August 10-11); and Marseille, France (September 20-22).

The SailGP event in New York will take place on the lower Hudson River, with the onshore Race Village located at Brookfield Place. It will feature Friday and Saturday afternoon racing just off the Battery and running north toward Rockefeller Park. In San Francisco, racing will take place in the San Francisco Bay, with the Race Village located on the Marina Yacht Club Peninsula. It will feature Saturday and Sunday mid-day racing on the city front racecourse.

“It’s an incredible honor to represent the United States and compete for our country,” said Kirby. “We’re all lifelong sailors – it’s our profession and our passion. But until now we’ve never had the chance to go toe-to-toe against the world’s best international sailors over a full season of competition. SailGP brings something totally new to the sport. The race venues are spectacular but challenging, and there’s that extra edge you get representing the USA against other national teams. SailGP will bring the sport we love closer to fans and spectators than ever before.”

Sanctioned by World Sailing, each grand prix event will consist of two competition days with five fleet races, culminating in a final match race between the two leaders. The final race in Marseille will feature a winner-takes-all, $1 million championship match race between the season’s top two teams to conclude three days of racing.