The Emirates GBR SailGP Team welcomed Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal aboard its F50 race boat ahead of the team’s home event this weekend, the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth.
The Princess Royal, in her role as President of the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), visited the SailGP Tech Hub in Southampton on Friday to gain an insight into the world-leading engineering, technology and highly skilled workforce behind one of the world’s fastest-growing sports and entertainment properties.
Hosted by Sir Ben Ainslie, Team Principal and CEO of the Emirates GBR SailGP Team, and RYA Chair Sir Michael Arthur, The Princess Royal heard about SailGP’s rapid global growth, the championship’s investment in British innovation and engineering, and the development of its expanding, permanent technology facilities in Southampton.
During the visit, Her Royal Highness met SailGP athletes from Great Britain and across the international fleet, toured the Emirates GBR F50 race boat, explored the championship’s cutting-edge wing technology, experienced the SailGP simulator, and saw first-hand how billions of data points are used to enhance performance, officiating and live television broadcast.
Emirates GBR enters the weekend in third place, behind Spain’s Los Gallos in second and Australia’s BONDS Flying Roos in first. Emirates GBR Strategist Hannah Mills OBE said the team was ready to “bring the fire” in its bid to take victory at home, after being pipped to the finish line by New Zealand’s Black Foils last year.
The Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix kicks off on Saturday 25 July, with the 13 teams being split into two fleets. Six races are scheduled to take place on Saturday and a further four on Sunday, before the top four teams then progress into the winner-takes-all event final.
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