Sarah Douglas Joins SailGP Team
August 31, 2022
High profile Olympian Sarah Douglas joined SailGP in Denmark last week as a strategist, in line with @sailgp’s Women Pathway Program.
Sarah is a confirmed member of the team and will continue with her intense training for Paris, same as Antonia and Georgia Lewin-Lafrance.
“Today was my first day on an F50, it was just really cool and a very surreal experience. It’s an honor to be part of #sailgpCAN, it’s great to be part of the league and it’s a really exciting thing for the country. On my ILCA 6 you have to work so hard to go 5-10 km/h. Getting up to 50 or 80 is mindblowing and I am really excited. We hit a new speed record of 85km/h.”
CANSailGP now 4th by a point after Copenhagen.
Can’t tell if this is Sarah, but you get the picture. A big change from Lasers / Photo: Chloe Knott for SailGP
Light air conditions prevented racing on Saturday, which meant there were three fleet races on Sunday, followed by the podium race on the Oresund.
Expectations were high for the Canada SailGP Team with Sarah Douglas, onboard and the Canadian team sailed a solid first race, managing to move up two places just meters from the finish line, to secure fourth place. Optimistic for race two, the team battled it out in the middle of the pack for most of the race yet challenging conditions meant a fifth-place finish. In race three, despite an aggressive race strategy, the team struggled after a tough start and finished seventh holding onto fourth place on the overall leaderboard.
Changes in wind speed and direction, made for an unstable platform for all the teams today, but New Zealand, France and Denmark were solid from the start. New Zealand went on to win the event with four first place finishes, while France finished second and the home team, Denmark in third overall, just a point ahead of Canada.
Commenting on her debut with the team, Sarah Douglas said: “I’m always proud to represent Canada, no matter what class of boat. To have Canada on the start line and to be among the top nations in the sport is great.”
Next up for the team is the France Sail Grand Prix in Saint-Tropez on 10-11 September.
