Ahead of this weekend’s Great Britain SailGP in Plymouth, British helmsman Paul Goodison shares what it’s like to drive a foiling F50 catamaranGreat Britain SailGP Team helmed by interim skipper Paul Goodison in action during a practice session ahead of Great Britain SailGP, Event 3, Season 2 in Plymouth, Great Britain. 15 July 2021. Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGPPaul Goodison is one of the most talented foiling sailors around \u2013 he\u2019s a three-time International Moth World Champion and was mainsail trimmer on the American Magic AC75 in this year\u2019s America\u2019s Cup, doing the same role on the Artemis Racing foiling catamaran in the previous Cup. Oh and he\u2019s also an Olympic Gold medallist.\u00a0But until a few weeks ago, he\u2019d never competed in the SailGP circuit \u2013 which makes taking over the wheel of the foiling F50 for Ben Ainslie for the Great Britain SailGP Team all the more challenging.
\nHaving won the season opener in Bermuda, Ainslie stepped out of the circuit for two events (he recently announced the addition of their second child to the Ainslie family, congratulations to Ben and his wife Georgie), handing over to Goodison for the Italian stage of the tour.
\nWe spoke to \u2018Goody\u2019, as he is widely known, just before the start of the third SailGP event in Plymouth, UK, which kicks off tomorrow.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s very new,\u201d he explains. \u201cMy my role with Artemis a long time ago was as the backup helmsman to start with and then I ended up being a wing trimmer when it came round to the 50.
\n\u201cThen the last time round I did a reasonable amount of driving the AC75 early on when Dean [Barker] was away, we swapped in and out a little bit, then I was racing as the wing trimmer in the last America\u2019s Cup. To be stepping into this kind of fleet racing with eight boats and reaching starts is all quite exciting and quite different from what I\u2019m used to.
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSailGP: All you need to know about the 2021 season<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhen Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts launched SailGP back in 2018, the plan was that, by 2021, the series would\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSailGP: New faces for the second regatta of the season<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSaturday 5 June will see the second regatta in this second season of SailGP. For the first time ever the\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was a steep learning curve, I guess, in Taranto, but a good one.\u201d The Brits squad finished 6th in Italy, with Nathan Outteridge sailing Team Japan to win, but a mixed series saw usual front runners Australia, with Tom Slingsby, finishing 8th.
\nLearning to sail the foiling F50
\nPreviously, many of the SailGP teams were able to hone their skills on a highly sophisticated simulator at Artemis Techologies in the UK, but due to Goodison\u2019s packed schedule he had to learn on the foiling F50 for real.
\n\u201cUnfortunately, I didn\u2019t get the chance to go on the simulator! That would have been really nice, but it was just about being thrown in the deep end.
\n\u201cBut the other guys, the whole team from the shore team to the sailing team here is tremendous. So it was a lot easier than it would have been, I guess, if I\u2019d been out there with a less experienced team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the biggest challenges of racing in Taranto was that with light winds meant each crew was reduced from five to three (removing the grinders onboard) to allow the F50s to foil at a lower wind speed.
\n\u201cSailing with three [an option taken by the teams to reduce crew weight in very light winds] the first day last time was a real challenge and something I probably didn\u2019t pick up as fast as I needed to. But there\u2019s some good lessons out there. And if we get thrown in the deep end sailing with three again, we\u2019ve got a much better idea on how we\u2019d attack it this weekend. But hopefully the breeze will come and we\u2019ll be up to full strength with the big guys up front.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s incredible when you think you are sailing a 50ft catamaran going at 25 knots upwind and 35, 40 knots downwind, with only three dudes. It\u2019s actually really, really rewarding when you get it right \u2013 but really frustrating when it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0
\n\u201cI think as soon as the two big guys get off, you realise actually how much they do as well as just grinding the wing sheet in and out! They actually play a big role in flying the boat through the manoeuvres and trimming the jib. So then it just adds a lot more load onto the three guys who are left on board.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s when we need a couple of octopuses up in the front!\u201d
\n\u201cLooking back at the last event, it really rewarded the helmsmen that had spent a lot of time flying the boats at the America\u2019s Cup in Bermuda. You could see how well Nathan and Jimmy were able to sail the boat and use a dedicated grinder, whereas all the other teams were sharing the role of the flight control between a flight controller and the helmsman, and switching around between grinding. And that transition is never easy, so the Japanese and the US guys had a little edge, I think. But again, it\u2019s all down to practice.
\nGreat Britain SailGP Team helmed by interim skipper Paul Goodison ahead of Italy SailGP, Event 2, Season 2 in Taranto, Italy. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP
\nThe foiling F50s are all identical, so coming from the America\u2019s Cup \u2013 where each crew member had personalised controls \u2013 involved a quick adaptation for Goodison.
\n\u201cIn the flight control position, he has the ability to do both foils and the rudders, and then in the helmsman position on the steering wheel you have a rotating grip that flies the opposite board.
\n\u201cYou also have foot buttons in the cockpit where you press to add rudder lift or take off, as well as having buttons on the wheel to add differential or take away differential.\u00a0
\nSo I guess the biggest challenge is I just spent to two or three years placing my buttons where I wanted to have them and getting used to them, to basically trying to learn it all again.
\n\u201cWhen you find yourself looking to find a button rather than just moving your leg or your arm automatically is a very different feeling. It\u2019s like trying to look for where the indicator stalk is or trying to find where the clutch is on a car \u2013 all the while you\u2019re flying at 30 knots and getting water in your face!\u201d
\nFast learning curve
\nThe foiling F50s also go through a series of continuous evolution to keep the development level in the fleet high \u2013 something that Paul Goodison found particularly marked since sailing the AC50s in their previous incarnation in Bermuda.
\n\u201cThe big thing is how much the boats have actually advanced since they were sailed in the America\u2019s Cup. The performance is better. The control systems are a lot better. And with the dedicated flight controller the boats are more stable and they\u2019re faster. So they are a real pleasure to drive, it\u2019s great fun!\u201d
\nThere is speculation that new bigger wingsails could come out of the shed for this weekend in Plymouth, giving the F50s another power boost lower down the wind range.
\nPhoto: Bob Martin for SailGP
\nAnother element of SailGP\u2019s development programme is that all data is shared across teams, another big change for Goodison after the cloak-and-dagger espionage world of Auckland.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s just super interesting. You spend the last two or three years desperately trying to understand what the other boats are doing, to try and compare to what you\u2019re doing, to see if you can fast track your learning. And then you arrive in the SailGP world from the America\u2019s Cup world, and you can literally just look at the reports at the end of the day.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a nicely compiled report for each day, with all eight boats\u2019 data. So it\u2019s pretty easy to pick out the trends and see the differences.\u00a0
\n\u201cI guess the big takeaway from the real light winds for us, looking at the data, was that we probably sailed a slightly slower, higher mode. Which meant that our VMG out of the tacks was probably not quite as good as, say, the Americans or the Australians who were sailing much faster through the water. But in some parts we did have better VMG, in some parts they\u2019d make a gain.\u00a0
\n\u201cSo it\u2019s just really interesting being able to piece it all together and realise what you can try new stuff. Although actually on the water there\u2019s not a whole lot of time to put a lot of these ideas into practice, you just have to go with your gut!\u201d
\n\u201cAlso having eight boats out there makes it super exciting. The race is never over, the race is never won. It makes it a little bit more like the Moth racing or I guess the Laser racing I did years ago. It\u2019s great fun.\u201d
\nThe eight foiling F50s practising on Plymouth Sound ahead of the Great Britain Sail GP event on July 16-17
\nLooking ahead to this weekend\u2019s Plymouth event, Goodison said: \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be awesome, it\u2019s a very natural amphitheatre here, so you\u2019re going to be able to get up high and have a good view of the racing.\u00a0
\n\u201cMuch the same, I guess, as it was in Auckland. So I think if you\u2019re coming to watch, you\u2019re going to have to get up really close and have a great view.\u00a0
\n\u201cAnd for me, I think the sailing is going to be fantastic. We have a good forecast \u2013 maybe a touch lighter for the weekend, but the seabreeze will hopefully come in and we should have some good racing.\u201d
\nWatch the Great Britain Sail GP online at Sky Sports or on YouTube from 1400 on Saturday, 17 July and 1430 on Sunday 18 July. Find out more at SailGP.com\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Ahead of this weekend’s Great Britain SailGP in Plymouth, British helmsman Paul Goodison shares what it’s like to drive a foiling F50 catamaranGreat Britain SailGP Team helmed by interim skipper Paul Goodison in action during a practice session ahead of … <\/p>\n