Consistency proves elusive for the U.S. SailGP Team on Day One in Plymouth
by Laura Muma 31 Jul 2022 06:35 NZST
July 30-31, 2022
After racing today at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix | Plymouth, the United States SailGP Team stayed out training on the Great Sound in an effort to work on maneuvers that hindered performance and found the team on the low end of the leaderboard after three races.
Analyzing today, CEO and Driver Jimmy Spithill says the result points to lack of consistency. "I thought our speed was good, and in the majority of racing we sailed well, but in a few key areas we struggled."
"Look, the fleet is so competitive and the level is high," Spithill continued. "If you make a small mistake, man, you're going to pay for it. And that happened to us in every race today."
Searching for positives, Spithill pointed to their improved starts. "Starts were a trouble area for us in yesterday's practice racing but we put a lot of effort into that last night and it showed. We were getting to mark one in great shape, but unfortunately in key maneuvers we weren't able to execute together and that cost us."
The team stayed out after racing to capitalize on the needed extra training time. "We are using every opportunity we can get to get more time in and get more reps in.
"We win and lose as a team. We all need to step our game up, and we will," Spithill said. "We don't yet have the consistency or a complete package in a race, but we will come out tomorrow with the goal of getting a clean race in. We're not going to shy away from the challenge."
Racing continues tomorrow at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix | Plymouth at 9 a.m. EDT. Fans can watch live on the SailGP YouTube channel or the SailGP APP; and on CBS Sports tape delay at 6 p.m. EDT.