And They’re Off!
Bermuda loves it’s sailing events – not that they come around very often. (There are likely many events avid sailors on the island are aware of, but pass us ‘not in the know’ people by.) But when the big ones come to town, everyone takes notice. Last time we had a ‘big one’ was back in 2017 for the America’s Cup (also known as AC35), and it was a pretty big deal around here. We had a good time watching some races and taking part in some of the various event related to it.
SailGP is an annual racing series, and is kind of like ‘America’s Cup light’. I think ultimately it was a good way for them to keep using the super high-tech (and expensive!) sailboats they developed for AC35 in Bermuda. (The format for America’s Cup is that the winner gets to choose the boat style, and after Bermuda they moved away from the foiling catamarans in favor of a foiling monohull style boat).
The racing in Bermuda was the first event of the third season of SailGP, there are 11 events around the world from this May to May of next year. The series started in 2019 with 5 events (Bermuda was not on the calendar), they skipped 2020 (Covid!), and the second season was 8 events starting with Bermuda in April 2021. Due to Covid restrictions, there wasn’t much fanfare last year while the racing was in town, I don’t think there were even spectators allowed to watch the events live. So with everything more or less back to normal this season, there was plenty of interest! We also enjoyed the fact that Canada had a team racing as well.
Fun With Flags
We went out to Dockyard to see the two afternoons of races for the event. Jenn got us tickets to enjoy the venue for both days, so on Saturday we all hung out there for the three races held that day… but we were mistakenly given ‘VIP’ wrist bands so had access to a slightly better vantage point and free food and drink! I was somehow not allowed to bring in a camera, however, so was not impressed – regardless of our lucky mix-up! On Sunday we all went back, for the final three races & final, but I opted to hang out on my own at the nearby Lodge Point Park that was situated beside the racing area, rather than at the end as with the formal venue. I was much happier to be closer to the boats with my camera in hand! I mean, what’s the point if you can’t take pictures, amirite? The other three didn’t get so lucky with the wristbands on day 2 but enjoyed their time regardless, and ended up being in front for the awards presentations! We were happy to see Canada take third overall, while the Australians won and Great Britain came in 2nd.
That was about it – short and sweet – enjoy the photos!
