Super cats flying off coast
Elite sailors put foiling yachts through their paces in North before new competition
Spectacular foiling yachts are zipping along Northland’s coast as teams of elite sailors put the boats through their paces in training sessions. SailGP is a brand-new international yacht racing league for professional teams racing equalised ultra-highperformance fully-foiling 50-foot catamarans.
During the inaugural 2019 season six teams will compete in five events around the world starting in Sydney in February, then San Francisco, New York, Cowes in England and Marseilles in France.
But before the competition begins some of the world’s best competitive sailors are testing the most advanced catamarans in excellent wind conditions in Bream Bay.
SailGP has established a base at Marsden Cove and is launching the catamarans by crane off a pontoon based at Northport.
Brad Marsh, SailGP New Zealand operations manager, said teams from China and the United States had already completed their allotted two weeks each and had been impressed with the boats, the base and the surrounding area. Different strengths had enabled the crews to test a number of different boat configurations.
Next week the Australians will arrive and will be followed by the Great Britain squad.
Team Australia have named Olympic gold medallist and America’s Cup winner Tom Slingsby as skipper of the Australia SailGP Team crew.
Slingsby won gold in the Laser class at the London 2012 Olympic Games and played a key role in Oracle Team USA’s 2013 come-frombehind victory in the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco. By the middle of December the Japanese and French teams will be on site.
“It’s like bringing a Formula One car to Whanga¯rei. These boats are being produced to the highest spec and no cost has been spared. Having these sailors come is like having Michael Schumacher do a lap or two,” Marsh, who was born in Whanga¯rei, said.
The flying boats have all been built in Warkworth at Core Builders Composites and under the watchful eye of company manager Mark Turner.
SailGP is the brainchild of Ameri- can billionaire-businessman Larry
Ellison — co-founder, executive chairman, and chief technology officer of Oracle Corporation — and prominent New Zealand yachtsman Sir Russell Coutts, a multiple world champion, Olympic gold medallist and five times America’s Cup winner.
Together at Oracle racing Ellison and Coutts masterminded two America’s Cup victories in 2010 in Valencia and 2013 in San Francisco.
The sleek carbon fibre boats that use a very similar configuration to what was used at the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda, appear to fly above the water on foils and cut an impress- ive image with Whangarei Heads as a backdrop. Marsh said the two teams who had completed their trials were impressed with the Whanga¯rei Heads area and had climbed Mount Manaia and Mount Lion. They had also done team building exercises at Ruaka¯ka¯ Beach. “Feedback from the sailors is they were impressed with the area. They said the scenery is magnificent.” Local boaties had also been welcoming, cheering and clapping the crews on when they were spotted out at sea or coming in and out of the harbour.
“It’s been a really nice atmosphere and it’s made us feel very welcome.” SailGP hoped to return annually to Northland as the competition evolved.