British sailing star Sir Ben Ainslie gave a tantalizing look at what the second season of SailGP would offer when he dominated the opening regatta on Sydney Harbor in February 2020, including a victory over Tom Slingsby and defending champion Australia in the match-race final.
A few weeks later, the coronavirus pandemic shut down world sports, including SailGP, and the results of that opening regatta were declared void.
More than a year later, Season 2 begins this weekend on Bermudas Great Sound, where teams from eight countries will begin the chase for the $1 million, winner-take-all prize that will be awarded at the season finale in San Francisco next March.
Racing in foiling 50-foot catamarans was originally scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. But due to forecast light wind on Saturday, the regatta will begin Friday and conclude Sunday, with no racing Saturday.
While Ainslie was already aboard for the second season, the pandemic delay allowed other stars to join the league for Season 2. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke will head the New Zealand crew just a month after leading Emirates Team New Zealand to a successful defense of the Americas Cup. Also new is Jimmy Spithill, who will skipper the U.S. team after serving as co-helmsman of the losing team in the Americas Cup, Italys Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team. Spithill, an Australian, makes his permanent home in San Diego.
Ainslie is a former Americas Cup winner and the most decorated sailor in Olympic history, with four gold medals and a silver. He said hes never seen such a talented lineup of sailors as in SailGP.
This is a first for sailing, really, to have a league like this, thats year in, year out, global, in incredibly fast one-design boats, Ainslie said from Bermuda. I dont think anyone can argue you dont have the best inshore sailors in the world. Thats a first.
Slingsby, who split the $1 million prize from the inaugural championship with his crew, welcomes the additional competition.
If we could have the top 50 sailors in the world, thats the dream, he said. You want to know everyones there when youre racing to know truly who is the best team.
Slingsby already put some spice into SailGPs return when he capsized the American catamaran last week during practice. Not all the boats had been commissioned yet so a number of teams were sharing the American boat.
While Slingsby was stuck at home in Australia for more than a year and unable to race due to the pandemic, Ainslie, Spithill, Burling and Tuke are coming in fresh from the Americas Cup.
There are plenty of intriguing storylines.
Spithills Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team eliminated Ainslies INEOS Team UK in the Prada Cup for challengers before losing to Burling and Tukes Kiwi team 7-3 in the Americas Cup match.
In 2017, Burling skippered Emirates Team New Zealand to a dominating Americas Cup win on the Great Sound against Spithill and two-time defending champion Oracle Team USA.
In the 2013 Americas Cup on San Francisco Bay, Slingsby and Ainslie were on Spithills Oracle Team USA crew that staged one of the greatest comebacks in sports by winning eight straight races to beat Team New Zealand, then skippered by Dean Barker, 9-8.
Slingsby said hes not concerned about the way Ainslie dominated that 2020 regatta in Sydney.
I expected him to perform at that level, said Slingsby, who also has won an Olympic gold medal. I didnt expect us not to perform as well as we could have. That was the frustrating part. My starts were terrible and we were never really racing them in the races. But once were up and going were just as fast or faster.”
Ainslie would love to dominate again but is realistic.
Its going to be hard because the competitions tougher than ever, he said.
SailGP co-founder Russell Coutts thinks Ainslie, Burling, Spithill, Slingsby and Team Japan skipper Nathan Outteridge are the five top helmsmen in the world.
That lineup is incredible, said Coutts, a five-time Americas Cup champion from New Zealand who co-founded SailGP with American tech tycoon Larry Ellison. Youve got all the top sailors in the world here in high-performance boats, all duking it out against each other. Its going to be fascinating.
Rounding out the fleet are Spain, Denmark and France.
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Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson
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