By Alexander Smith
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) – SailGP’s U.S. team, who have largely performed best in lighter breezes, are preparing for speed based on the weekend weather forecast for the 13 crews lining up on the Solent, off Britain’s maritime city of Portsmouth.
“This weekend looks like it’s going to be a fast race,” U.S. SailGP Team CEO and co-owner Mike Buckley said in a video interview ahead of the event on the south coast of England, which he added could be pretty windy.
SailGP’s chief meteorologist Chris Bedford this week predicted moderate to fresh southwesterly winds.
“With this forecast, we should have relatively flat water despite the current, which is good news for the racing,” Bedford said in a report on SailGP’s website.
The U.S. team are lying in fourth on the leaderboard going into this weekend’s event, just behind previous championship winners Britain and Spain on points.
“Our entire focus right now is on Portsmouth,” Buckley told Reuters, adding that it was one of the best stops on the SailGP global circuit, in which crews compete in identical 50-foot foiling catamarans.
Australia are clear leaders as SailGP heads towards its grand final, which is scheduled to take place at the end of November in Abu Dhabi, where lighter winds might favour the U.S. team led by driver Taylor Canfield.
Buckley said Canfield’s confidence had increased as the team had grown in experience and this was clear in the way the skipper was helming their F50.
“True preparation leads to true confidence,” Buckley said. “He knows he belongs because he has put in the work”.
The U.S. team, who claimed their first event win under Canfield at this year’s SailGP in Sydney, came last in the 2025 championship and finished eighth overall the season before.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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