With $2 million USD on the line at the SailGP Grand Final on July 13-14, every points penalty imposed by Craig Mitchell and his team of umpires during the season has had a potentially big impact.
What is unique about SailGP’s umpiring is that as the crews “fly” their foiling 50-foot catamarans thousands of miles away, every split-second call is made remotely from west London, taking the video assistant referee (VAR) concept to an extreme.
The software which allows the umpires to make rulings within seconds about incidents on the water is called “UmpApp”. Based on technology first developed for the America’s Cup, it gives the GPS position of each boat to within 2.5 centimeters. – Full report
SailGP information – San Francisco details– YouTube – How to watch
Season 4 Standings (after 12 of 13 events; results and total points)
1. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 1-7-8-DNC/6-4-1-1-3-1-2-5; 93 points
2. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 2-3-2-2-3-2-7-1-10-3-7; 78
3. Spain (Diego Botin), 5-1-3-6-6-10-2-5-4-1-4; 76
4. France (Quintin Delapierre), 6-8-6-4-7-4-4-4-2-9-2; 71
5. Canada (Phil Robertson), 3-4-10-5-5-3-6-10-3-4-6; 67
6. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 4-2-4-7-2-6-9-2-9-5-3; 67
7. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie/Giles Scott), 7-6-1-1-8-5-8-7-7-8-1; 66
8. United States (Jimmy Spithill/Taylor Canfield), 9-5-5-3-1-8-3-9-8-10-10; 51
9. Germany (Erik Heil), 10-10-7-8-9-10-9-5-6-5-6-8; 35
10. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter/Nathan Outteridge), 8-9-9-9-7-10-8-6-7-9; 33
For scoring adjustments, click here.
Season 4 – 2023
June 16-17 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Los Angeles
September 9-10 – France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 23-24 – Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto
October 14-15 – Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía- Cádiz
December 9-10 – Dubai Sail Grand Prix | Dubai*
Season 4 – 2024
January 13-14 – Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi
February 24-25 – Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
March 23-24 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 4-5 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix
June 1-2 – Canada Sail Grand Prix | Halifax
June 22-23 – United States Sail Grand Prix | New York
July 13-14 – SailGP Season 4 Grand Final | San Francisco
* Added October 3, 2023
Format for Season 4:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Up to seven 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 $300,000.00 USD event prize money purse (increases to $400k for Abu Dhabi with the winning team now 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 the $2 million USD prize.
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will be awarded $350,000.00.
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: scuttlebutt – https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2024/07/01/sailgp-umpiring-from-afar/
