SailGP Halifax - Day 1
We parked the van on the Dartmouth side of the harbour and took a bus to waterfront. Much easier than trying to park (and pay) in the city. We had lots of time to wander around, buy some SailGP “merch” and generally just experience the buzz of thousands of people on the waterfront. The Bluenose II was docked in the harbour, and Northstar Canada (the Canadian SailGP team), had their boat on a mooring near the Bluenose II. Lot of opportunities for pictures!
The fastest of the old with the fastest (??) of the new in Halifax Harbour
The weather was sun and rain, but the rain never lasted too long, and everyone was cheering it all on. The wind however was less than impressive. The forecast was for 16+ knots so the SailGP boats were setup for those winds with smaller foils. Unfortunately, we had nowhere near those speeds. The fleet was split into 2 groups, A and B. Canada was racing in Group A and every race group A had, the winds dropped out. The races were very short due to the lack of wind, and even with that, the first race for Group A was abandoned. Every Group B race however, had more wind, and there was some great foiling action on the course!
Foiling in light winds
Northstar Canada struggled in the light wind conditions and only got 1 point on the day, oh well. On the plus side, the New Zealand team, the Blackfoils, were back on the water for the first time since they had a horrific crash in Auckland that destroyed their boat. We got to see them place pretty well on the day and we’ll see how it all plays out on day 2. Winds are expected to be light so who knows…
