SailGP comes to Canada and Halifax for the First time this weekend. The series, created by Oracle founder Larry Ellison, is currently in its 4th season. 10 teams, will race F50 one-design multi-hulls around the Harbour Saturday and Sunday. Both days will feature 3 races, with the final race only including the top teams from the previous 5 races.
The Boats are an evolution of the 2017 AC50 boats used for the Americas Cup, and 3 of the hulls were raced in that Americas Cup. as a one design series, all the boats are identical, so winning comes down to ability of the crew of 6 – Helmsman, 2 grinders, tactician, trimmer and flight controller. The F50 name drives from Foiling, and the boats length 50′. if you look closely, you will see the boats skimming through the water on a single foil on the downwind side of the vessel.
The boats typically race at 60-80km/h depending on wind conditions, with the top speed of 99.94km/h being recorded in 2022.