As SailGP CEO Russell Coutts explained, “We have always said SailGP is for the racing fan — not your typical sailing fan. This is the very best of high-speed, high-tech racing, but on water.” The person tasked with attracting the racing fan is Chief Marketing Officer Leah Davis who is profiled in this report by Marketing Brew:
Growing up near Dublin Bay on the east coast of Ireland, Leah Davis was used to the sight of sailboats, but she never found herself at the helm.
Nowadays, though, she’s steering a ship—metaphorically speaking, that is. After stints as a competitive tennis player and coach, an ad agency account director, head marketer for the British Olympic Association, and founder of her own company, Davis is the CMO of SailGP, the international sailing competition co-founded in 2018 by Larry Ellison, where she’s working to grow the brand and its fandom coming out of a hot streak in its fourth season. – Full report
The next event is on February 8-9 in Sydney, Australia.
SailGP information – YouTube – Facebook
Season 5 Leaderboard (after 2 of 14 events)*
1. Great Britain, 17 points
2. New Zealand, 17 points
3. Australia, 16 points
4. Spain, 16 points
5. Denmark, 10 points
6. France, 10 points
7. United States, 8 points
8. Switzerland, 6 points
9. Germany, 6 points
10. Canada, 6 points
11. Italy, 5 points
12. Brazil, 3 point
* Ten of the 12 teams are privately owned, with the league having ownership of New Zealand and Spain.
Season 5 Schedule – 14 events
2024
November 23-24 – Dubai, UAE
2025
January 18-19 – Auckland, New Zealand
February 8-9 – Sydney, Australia
March 15-16 – Los Angeles, USA
March 22-23 – San Francisco, USA
May 3-4 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 7-8 – New York City, USA
July 19-20 – Portsmouth, Great Britain
August 16-17 – Sassnitz, Germany
September 6-7 – Taranto, Italy
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain
November 7-8 – Middle East *
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE
* Venue to be announced
Format for Season 5:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Five qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the prize purse (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $400,000.00 USD prize purse with winning team earning $200k at each event).
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $2 million USD prize).
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will get a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had a $350,000.00 prize).
For competition documents, click here.
Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.
Source: https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2025/01/29/bringing-sailgp-to-a-global-audience/
