Global Sports
The SailGP fleet is steeling itself for one of the most exciting venues of the season.
The towering skyline of New York City certainly takes the breath away, but that famous wall of skyscrapers is also quite capable of taking the wind away, too. No sane sailing event would choose to hold a competition on the waters of Upper New York Bay, although Formula One probably shouldn’t stage a grand prix on the narrow streets of Monaco, either.
Love it or loathe it, Upper New York Bay will make for an impressive sporting arena this weekend for the 12-team close-to-shore sailing championship.
It’s far from a straightforward venue; the wind is likely to be extremely gusty and shifty, making it very hard for the strategists to give a clear call on tactics. Keeping SailGP’s identical F50 catamarans, which compete head-to-head, in stable flight is hard enough on an open track, so trying to achieve constant foiling as the breeze swirls off the streets of Manhattan is much more difficult.
