Enel Rio SailGP: Sailors will be asked plenty of questions in Rio next weekend
by SailGP Media 5 Apr 02:07 BST
The Sugar Loaf dominated the Stadium Course at the 2016 Rio Olympics © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com/nz
Next weekend, SailGP lands in Rio for its long-awaited South American debut, where iconic scenery meets wildly unpredictable racing.
From hometown hero Martine Grael’s high-pressure return to Olympic pedigree across the fleet and a bold new fan experience, here are five storylines set to define a spectacular weekend on Guanabara Bay.
SailGP’s South American debut
When Rio de Janeiro hosts the Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix on April 11-12, it will mark the first SailGP event ever held in South America. The venue choice is a powerful one: Guanabara Bay, the stage for the 2016 Olympic sailing events, offers a natural amphitheatre perfectly suited to SailGP's close-to-shore stadium format, with Christ the Redeemer watching from above and Sugarloaf Mountain framing the skyline. The winds here are fickle, disrupted by the surrounding mountainous terrain, creating wind shadows and unpredictable gusts that could reshuffle the competitive order and open the door for a memorable upset on SailGP's most eagerly awaited debut.
Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team's army of home fans
A decade ago, Martine Grael won Olympic gold on Guanabara Bay by the narrowest of margins, sparking celebrations on Flamengo Beach as fans waded into the surf to carry the boat ashore. Now SailGP arrives in Rio for its South American debut, and Grael is at the wheel of the home team once again. The Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team is the first South American team in the Rolex SailGP Championship, and with a fired up partisan crowd cheering from the waterfront, the pressure - and the opportunity - has never been greater.
DS Automobiles SailGP Team France arrive in Rio with momentum, having led the fleet standings after day one in Auckland before being forced out by a collision they were exonerated of causing. Wing trimmer Leigh McMillan, who suffered a traumatic shoulder injury in that Auckland crash, will miss Rio while he recovers from surgery [replaced by super-sub Glenn Ashby (AUS)]. Despite not racing in Sydney, the French team retained fourth place in the Championship standings, and driver Quentin Delapierre and his rebuilt crew will be hungry to prove themselves back on the water.
Fourteen SailGP athletes won Olympic medals on Guanabara Bay in 2016, and will think they know these waters well. None know more than Martine Grael though, who grew up sailing the bay, watching her father Torben - a five-time Olympic medallist - and two-time medal-winner uncle Lars race in the same waters.
Artemis’ Nathan Outteridge and Emirates Great Britain's Dylan Fletcher are also Rio 2016 alumni who competed there a decade ago. With fickle winds shaped by the surrounding mountains creating unpredictable gusts and currents adding tactical complexity that intimate local knowledge of how the bay behaves could prove to be the difference between a podium finish and a frustrating weekend.
Rio de Janeiro is a city that invented the art of the good time - and SailGP's new Vela Beach Club is built to match. Derived from the Latin word for "sails," Vela is the centrepiece of the fan experience at Praia do Flamengo: a sun-drenched, DJ-soundtracked space offering front-row views of the F50s foiling past at close to 100 km/h. All-inclusive food and drink, curated hospitality and a vibrant atmosphere keep the energy high from the first race to the Final - and well beyond. In a city where samba spills from every side street and caipirinhas are a way of life, Vela Beach Club promises to be something genuinely special.