Sail Grand Prix

I got back from my trip to the Blue Mountains late on the 7th of February and checked in to my new Hostel in Kings Cross which is a lot more central than Coogee. Very tired I went to bed quite early, and next morning started out with me going back to my old hostel to pick up my bag, before then going straight back the way I came.

After having that fixed, it was time for the real experience of the day: the Sailing Grand Prix out in Sydney Harbour. This is a sailing competition on 50 foot foiling catamarans sailing at speeds up to over a 100 km/h. But on my way out to the outer harbour I did some exploring of Potts Point and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. And as I walked there I saw them dragging the foiling boats out into the harbour which looked unreal.

I found a really nice spot to sit out in Nielsen Park to view the competition, and got an especially good view of the starts of the races which was really something quite crazy. I spent most of my afternoon watching the races which the Aussies did really well in, something that was clearly appreciated by the rest of the spectators. And there were a lot of those, it kind of felt like half the city was out on the beaches of outer Sydney, to not speak of all the people watching in their own boats. When the competition was wrapped up I sped back to the city centre to grab something quick to eat before then speeding westwards to Rozella Bay where the competition harbour was and where thanks to Johan’s contacts I were to meet Julius who sails for the Danish team and which would be showing me the boats up close.

After a bit of trying to find my way to the competition base and then waiting to be let in I was met by Julius who the showed me the F50:s they had been sailing that day. Calling these F50:s boats feels a bit silly, they both looked and felt more like space ships from Star Wars or maybe air planes. Built from carbon fibre and with alien shapes to minimise air resistance these things were really cool. Especially getting to hold the titanium foiling wing, and seeing the wing sails which where maybe 30 meters of super thin film wrapped around a carbon fibre skeleton was really something special, thank you Julius.