SailGP: $1 million purse up for grabs in San Fran

Toby Heppell

The final of the second season of SailGP will see three teams fighting it out for the $1 million purse as teams face off in San Francisco

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Season 2 of SailGP is set to draw to a close this weekend as the eight competing teams, sailing their foiling F50s, line up for the SailGP Final in San Francisco.

As this is the final event of the season, the teams will be vying for the coveted $1 million top prize.

Going into this final event, there is a clear top three in the overall standings with Tom Slingsby’s Team Australia heading up the series, Jimmy Spithill’s Team USA two points behind him and Nathan Outteridge’s Team Japan in third another two points behind.

The first two of these teams are guaranteed their spot in the three-boat winner-takes-all match race for the $1m prize.

Slingsby and his Team Australia will be looking to replicate their win in the inaugural season of SailGP, but Spithill will be keen to stop them making it two straight wins.

Taking place on an iconic race course between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, five races will be contested across Saturday and Sunday, before the winner-takes-all, season-deciding final race.

Alongside the SailGP Season 2 Championship, for the first time ever, a second podium will also take place on the Sunday to crown the Impact League winner – the league’s second podium for the planet.

Photo: Eloi Stichelbaut for SailGP

SailGP’s Impact League is an initiative to put sustainability at the heart of the sport and accelerate the transition to clean energy. Currently Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s New Zealand lead the charge from Ben Ainslie’s Great Britain and Slingsby’s Australia.

San Francisco marks SailGP’s return to the U.S. after a three-year hiatus, promising to deliver spectacular racing action in the race area so beloved by high performance sailors – and the scene of Oracle Team USA’s famous comeback win against Emirates Team New Zealand in the 2013 America’s Cup.

Although the top three teams are well out in front, the fight in the middle of the fleet is also close with 1 point separating Phil Robertson’s Team Spain, and Burling’s Team New Zealand, with Ainslie’s Team Great Britain just a single point behind the Kiwis.

Nicolai Sehested’s Denmark team and Quentin Delapierre’s French team round out the final places.

Racing is set to take place this weekend, 26-27 March 2022.

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