SailGP Opening Press Conference on Friday 18th July 2025

The News, Portsmouth

he SailGP Opening Press Conference will set the scene for the weekend ahead

Transcript

00:00Yeah, so I'm Giles, I'm the North Star driver for the Canadian team and I'm a dual national

00:08and yeah, I'm also local to Portsmouth, used to live down in South Sea and now I'm up the

00:12coast a little bit in Warsash, so yeah, super excited to be here in Portsmouth and racing

00:18this weekend.

00:19Excellent, and would you say that you have that extra competition knowing the waters

00:22that they're out of range?

00:24Maybe, the courses are so small that there's not a lot in it.

00:30But yeah, I'm very familiar with Portsmouth and the waters, so yeah, hopefully that can

00:34be a little advantage for us, who knows.

00:36And I think Portsmouth's going to be in for a good treat this weekend, forecast looks amazing,

00:41boats are in good shape, racecourse looks really, really good.

00:44So from a sailor's perspective, what makes the venue such a tactical challenge?

00:50Yeah, I think that the waters behind us here, it is going to be an amazing racecourse.

00:55You alluded to the fact there's a few obstacles to dodge, maybe like a fort, a few navy posts

01:02out there.

01:03Two little bits and gulps, isn't there?

01:05No, there is plenty going on in this racecourse, but I think it's going to be an amazing, amazing

01:09venue for the fans.

01:11There's a huge grandstand behind us here and I know there's some plans in place to make

01:15sure that all the action is right front and centre for that group, so I think it's going

01:20to be an awesome weekend of racing.

01:21Yeah, a great watch it's going to be, especially with the wind on Sunday.

01:25Dylan, you've sailed here before, maybe not too many times actually.

01:32Your crew as well, you know, have been on these waters obviously.

01:35Is there such a thing as home advantage?

01:38Because obviously you're all, you know, racing exactly the same equipment.

01:42Yeah, we haven't actually done much racing, or I personally haven't done much racing on

01:46exactly these waters.

01:47Obviously spent quite a bit of time in the sailing, but I think that there's certainly a home advantage

01:51in terms of the crowd, and as Ben alluded to earlier, there's a lot of pressure I guess

01:55we'll feel on our shoulders this weekend, but just super excited about racing in front

02:00of home fans, and we're one of the biggest grandstands this season, so hopefully the weather

02:04holds and we have some fantastic racing this weekend.

02:06So how do you go about harnessing that energy that hopefully you'll be getting from the crowd

02:10and turning it into speed on the water?

02:12Yeah, I guess we really saw it in Auckland in terms of just how close we were sailing and

02:17hearing the crowds, and they're obviously cheering for the Kiwis, so it'd be nice to hear

02:21them cheering for the Brits this weekend.

02:22Yeah.

02:23Who do you see as your biggest threats this weekend on this track?

02:28Well, clearly all four of the guys here next to me.

02:36Yeah, I mean, I think I've got them all here, so yeah, I think CLGP is getting so close that

02:43so much can happen in a short amount of time, so everyone's, it's everyone's there to grab

02:50on the water, and we'll just have to really be on it and bring our best sailing forward,

02:55so.

02:57So, America was kind to Spain.

02:59Dylan, it wasn't so kind to GBR, unfortunately.

03:03Obviously, you've had time to reflect on that.

03:05I think, as you know, Nicole said, but the fleet's really tight, and, you know, we just

03:10didn't bring our A game to those two events, and we've spent a lot of time analysing that

03:15and working on that, and, you know, we've spent time watching what the others were doing.

03:20They weren't doing anything we can't do, so hopefully we bring back that momentum.

03:24We had a good Sunday in New York, so we're looking to build on that and come here and

03:28put on a good show for the home crowd and be on the top of that podium.

03:31Yeah, the CLGP season's long, and we said at the start of the season it's going to be

03:35up and down, so hopefully we've had our bad events, we've put them under the, you know,

03:39under the rug, and from here it'll be all the way to the top.

03:43Portsmouth is, I lived here for two or three years, did a lot of work here with a few others

03:49in the room.

03:51Yeah, it's great to be back, and it'd be nice to ruin the British party a little bit,

03:56to be honest.

04:01Csara Costa.

04:04Bcek, Csara.

04:05Csara 96,000.

04:20Csara Mexico.

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