Behind the scenes of SailGP with international sailing champion Russell Coutts

When it comes to world-class sailors, few are as internationally renowned as New Zealand’s Russell Coutts. Claiming the gold at the LA Olympics in 1984, helming his country’s team to victory at the America’s Cup (AC) in 1995, and again in 2000, and subsequently successfully racing with the AC Swiss and then US teams, he’s truly one of the sport’s true figureheads. So when Coutts put his name and his reputation behind a new name in the game; SailGP, it was destined to be a victory on all fronts. In the four years since it was founded however, the competition has far outweighed its expectations, becoming one of the fastest growing spectator sports in the world with the view to build a platform not dissimilar to that of the Formula 1. 

SuperYacht Times caught up with Russell to get an insight into SailGP, which is now in the midst of its third season, and to understand the origin of the championship which has taken the sailing world by storm.What was the origin concept for SailGP, how did the idea begin?

Sailing has never had an annual roster of events, a championship that both the public could engage with, but also that  international athletes could compete in that was professionally televised and that could become a marketing platform for the sport. Sailing has always deserved a broader audience, it’s an engaging sport and at the very highest level it's fast paced, exciting and brilliant to watch – demonstrating this to a global audience, building a following and creating a platform – that is what we set out to do. 

One of the most important original tenets of the competition was to create a level playing field for all international teams. We chose the F50s because they are fast, technologically advanced and most importantly, challenging to race, demanding the very best from the athletes. All of the boats are identical, we build them ourselves and amend the technology each season with the latest innovations – the top speed we’ve recorded is 99.94 kilometres an hour, I expect to top 110 kmph within the next season! What was the first event like and how has it changed since its conception?

We believe that SailGP has developed into the most exciting race on the water, with highly competitive international teams racing in iconic venues all over the world. Since the first season SailGP has grown from five events to 11 this year, and we are in the process of finalising season four which looks like it will be around 14-15 events. 

Aside from the events themselves, we are gaining more teams each year and are currently producing two more F50s. It's exciting how far the championship has progressed in a relatively short period of time and each one of those teams brings a unique following with them. The viewership of the races has more than doubled since season one and we’ve smashed our targets for season three already, which really demonstrates that there is a thirst for this sport. Was sustainability and inclusivity always a priority for the program?

One of the best things about our sport is that we are out in nature, in beautiful places, utilising the environment to our advantage to power our high performance race boats. We are powered by nature so it would be wrong not to use our platform and our sport as a megaphone to promote sustainability and caring for the environment. SailGP has a focus on accelerating the transition to renewable and clean energies and that focus has been a huge focus of the organisation and everyone within it from the very beginning. 

When it comes to inclusivity, we’ve really been tackling this on multiple fronts. Our Inspire youth sailing program has already seen more than 10,000 young people pass through it and we have created careers within SailGP for around 16 people through our SailGP Inspire Careers program. We have also created the Women’s Pathway, the first of its kind in our sport which is obviously a very male dominated one, both historically and still today. Every SailGP team has to have a female team member in order to compete. We all know it's just a start – my ambition is to have a female driver winning SailGP in the future and we won't rest until we have true equality.

At SailGP, inclusivity isn’t just about the people on the water, it's the young people in schools being given new opportunities, its building a platform for athletes to compete, its creating jobs, involving minorities but also its getting more people involved in the sport as spectators. It's really a multifaceted approach and very much at the core of our championship. How is SailGP set apart from other international competitions such as the America’s Cup?

I think that the audience for the America’s Cup is the same as that of SailGP and in my opinion the two properties are really interconnected, benefitting one another. Sailing has always lacked consistency and publicity, two of the major factors when it comes to audience – SailGP has both. The irregularity of the AC has always made it hard to gain long term sponsorships, and every season it's an effort to find broadcasters that are willing to show the event on TV – which is no reflection on how exciting the championship itself is. 

The continuity of SailGP, competitions almost every month this year, means that broadcasters have a guaranteed audience and sponsors have a reliable platform. In fact we have signed 10 year contracts with broadcasters and sponsors, something I have never heard of before in sailing. Many of the event locations have also requested to sign contracts for 4 years or even longer, because they can see the value the platform brings to the destination and its tourism industry.  How do you aim to bring the sailing and superyacht sectors together through SailGP?

We really want to attract a community of boating, both sailing and motor. Hopefully owners come along and enjoy our events and look forward to returning every year. We’ve worked hard to offer a proper superyacht program, called the Adrenaline Yacht Program, and members get a prime spectator experience, moored on the boundary of the field, with an opportunity to tour the technical facilities. We always have at least one exclusive owners event, where top athletes join the owners and share their own unique insights into racing these amazing yachts. The program has been met really warmly already and we are working to make it better and more exclusive every season. 

Yachting should be complementary, on all levels and we really believe that superyacht owners and their crew are a major asset for sail racing and in turn, SailGP.
Last but not least, how can our readers engage with SailGP, both on the ground and online?

As of this season we are broadcasting to 189 different territories and we are able to simultaneously broadcast on YouTube in many different countries as well. Then when it comes to watching the event in person with such a broad range of locations all over the world, there are now many opportunities for spectators to attend the championships. Each year we are looking to expand the breadth of the event, so even if there isn’t a local event, there will be a way to access it online or on television. 

The next edition of SailGP is in only a few weeks in Dubai at the Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas on 12-13 November,  you can still get tickets at SailGP.com/Dubai. And if you can’t make it down, find out how to watch where you are at SailGP.com/Watch. Finally for more information on our Adrenaline Yacht program, email [email protected].