With $1 million and a season’s title up for grabs, attracting some of the world’s best sailors to SailGP was easy. But, with the allure of the Olympics and one star sailor’s paternity leave, keeping them on the boats for every race has been harder.
SailGP’s second season began in April in Bermuda, where eight teams from as many countries competed aboard identical F50 catamarans. The 36th America’s Cup had just concluded, so crew members who had competed in that regatta had time to return to their SailGP teams for the start of the season.
But then came the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and some SailGP teams were stripped of their best sailors as they headed for Japan.