A hop, skip and a jump from the recent America’s Cup Jeddah regatta saw Ben Ainslie out training in Dubai in his Emirates Great Britain SailGP F50, as the team gears up for its ‘home’ event.
The first F50s have hit the water to begin training ahead of this weekend’s Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas.
Training will continue ahead of official practice racing on Friday, 8 December, with official racing on the weekend of 9 and 10 December from 10:00 hrs GMT.
Heading into the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix, three-time champions Australia currently sit at the top of the leaderboard, followed by ROCKWOOL DEN in second and the United States in third.
The Australians will be racing without Tom Slingsby on the helm because his wife will be having a baby. Instead, former United States driver Jimmy Spithill will be substitute driver in Dubai.
Following the sale of the US Team, and an ambition to have an all-American team there are a number of crew changes, notably Taylor Canfield taking the helm in Dubai.
Moving from the US Team is wing-trimmer Paul Campbell-James who has joined the Canada SailGP Team. While on the French F50, Manon Audinet returns from maternity leave.
The expected Emirates Great Britain team:
Driver: Ben Ainslie
Wing Trimmer: Iain Jensen
Flight Controller: Luke Parkinson
Grinder: Nick Hutton
Grinder: Neil Hunter
Reserve Sailor: Matthew Gotrel
Strategist: Hannah Mills
Reserve Strategist: Hannah Diamond
Coach: Rob Wilson
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