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The F50 Victoria returns to Sydney (Australia), where it began its journey in SailGP, almost two years ago, on the occasion of the Australia Sail Grand Prix presented by KPMG, which will be held at dawn on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th December. This event marks the last one in 2021, before the eight-team fleet travels to San Francisco in March for the Season 2 Grand Final.
With the Opera House and Harbor Bridge as witnesses, the Spanish team began their journey in SailGP. It was February 2020, when the F50 Victoria debuted in Sydney, replacing the Chinese team, which was falling out of the competition. A young and excited crew managed to leave the entire fleet with their mouths open, after closing two second places and suffering a collision with the French ship, finishing fourth overall.
The winner of the 2020 Australian test was Great Britain, with Ben Ainslie as the driver. Shortly after, the pandemic truncated the competition plans, preventing the San Francisco event and the rest of the season from being held.
The base of that team remains almost intact with Florian Trittel, Phil Robertson, Diego Botin, Joan Cardona, Joel Rodríguez and Mateu Barber. Jordi Xammar, who previously promoted the team together with Trittel in the Spanish Impulse of the Youth America’s Cup, could not compete in the first round of the Spanish SailGP team, being immersed in their preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic event. The news regarding 2020 is the incorporation of women into the teams, officially since the event in Cádiz this October. Tara Pacheco and Andrea Emone are the female crew members that are part of the Spanish team in this 2021 season, the latter now present in Sydney, ready to climb the F50 Victoria.
Jordi Xammar will be the exceptional coach of the team
Although he could not participate in the premiere of the F50 Victoria in Australia a year ago, Jordi Xammar will be in Sydney this time, although he will not do so as a crew member. The Olympic medalist will act as coach, in the absence of Xabi Fernández, who will not be able to attend the team due to other commitments.
“It is not my role, it is a specific role given the circumstances, but I will try to help the team in whatever way I can”. He admits that this responsibility has helped him to understand what the movement of the entire team implies: “Understand not only the role that I will do, but that of all the functions on board the F50. It is being very positive”
The Spanish team arrives in special circumstances for the penultimate appointment of this season. The restrictions due to the pandemic have forced the crew to quarantine for three days and the ground team has been forced to work against the clock to repair the wing of the F50 Victoria that broke in Cádiz in October at Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalusia – Cádiz as a result of a dunk.
For the Australia Sail Grand Prix, which is the penultimate round before the Grand Final in San Francisco in March, the Australian team starts as favorites by competing at home and leading the general classification with 45 points, ahead of the United States and Japan. second and third respectively. Spain is sixth.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism