Sydney Secures Global Sailing Event

Sydney has secured a stop in the global series, SailGP, for the next three years, after missing out on taking the Australian Formula One (F1) Grand Prix from Melbourne.

Originally Sydney was not included in the SailGP schedule, but a Sydney Grand Prix has been added as the ninth stop.

The event will be held on 18-19 February, with an estimated 20,000-person crowd to line the Sydney Harbour.

Commenting on the announcement, NSW’s Minister for Tourism and Sport, Stuart Ayres, said: “I am delighted we have secured the Australia Sail Grand Prix on Sydney Harbour for the next three seasons.”

“Which further demonstrates that Sydney is bouncing back to life and is well-and-truly open for business.

“As one of only eleven iconic locations in the global SailGP league, the Australia Sail Grand Prix will provide a significant boost to the state’s visitor economy by showcasing our spectacular Harbour City to the world,” Ayres said.

Australian Olympic gold medallist who will be leading the team, Tom Slingsby, said: “We are stoked to be able to work with the NSW Government to secure this world class event in Australia for the next three years.”

“Now having 10 F50s lined up and racing for the first time on Sydney Harbour is going to be a pretty incredible sight for fans and with the calibre of athletes we have on these boats in season three, we can expect action-packed and very close racing.

“We won in front of our home crowd at last year’s Sydney event and our team is laser focused on repeating that again for Australia,” he added.