Yacht racing has had challenges as a spectator sport. Competitors are often far from view, and even if fans can see them, perspective and the sport’s complexity make it hard to know who is ahead, compared to golf or a car race. SailGP (Sailing Grand Prix) has sought to change this with high-performance boats sailing close to shore, and fitted liberally with cameras to share the action. Like Formula One auto racing, the boats and crews travel from venue to venue, racking up points to determine an overall winner. SailGP’s first season began in October 2018, with a six-boat, five-race series. Racing resumed after a break for COVID, finishing Season 3 last month with nine boats in San Francisco Bay.

The SailGP Inspire Program has grown concurrently with SailGP. Conceived by Tom Herbert-Evens, the Inspire Program was created to provide STEM experiences for youth, using sailing-related activities. Tom envisioned a program, not only to inspire young people to take up sailing, but also to use the sport to demonstrate practical applications of STEM education. The Inspire Program reached 195 students during its first season, climbing to a tally of 3,286 for the season that just ended.

Tom is supported in his role as Inspire’s Program Manager by Martin Smith (Inspire Tour Coordinator), Laura Hedley (Inspire Program Coordinator), Tim Krat (Inspire Event Coordinator), and Sarah Klafkowski (Inspire Careers and Learning Coordinator). We worked with Sarah–a former secondary school teacher–to compile the information for this piece. The quotes you will see are hers.

The Inspire Team hopes to expand their programs beyond their event week through their connections with organizations at their host venues. When asked what new activities or exhibits they have in mind, the response was a tantalizing “You’ll have to wait and see!” The team is also seeking to expand diversity and inclusion in their reach by working with coordinators at host venues.

The team has gotten kids on the water at some of their host venues, such as Dubai and St. Tropez, by connecting participating schools with local sailing clubs and organizations. Getting kids on the water reinforces the practical aspects of STEM subjects beyond the classroom. They also want to open participants’ eyes to employment opportunities through their technical site tours.

The Inspire Team activated its program at all eleven host venues during the recently-ended season. Says Klafkowski “One of the most fun parts of delivering this program is getting to meet new people with a common purpose from around the world. We certainly found this with the Sailing Science Center.” With eight SSC volunteers participating, the Sailing Science Center was excited and flattered to help deliver this year’s SailGP Inspire Program. We wish the Inspire Team the greatest success in Season 4 and hope to see them when they return next year.

From May 2^nd to May 7^th, a total of eight SSC volunteers came to support the SailGP Inspire Program in San Francisco. During the first four days we interacted directly with 340 school children and 68 adults. over the weekend we engaged with an estimated 400 adults and 100 kids.

Saying that the SSC and SailGP Inspire are like-minded is an understatement. It was a pure privilege to be involved with such a professional and hard-working team.

One of the perks of being an SSC volunteer is getting to do cool things, and volunteering during SailGP certainly lived up to that promise. Weekday volunteers got an inside view of the Tech Center where the boats were being readied to race, while weekend volunteers got front row seats for the racing!

Understanding the Coriolis Effect is essential to understanding circulation in the earth's oceans and atmosphere. But creating an exhibit to effectively demonstrate the phenomenon is a challenge. Two things make it difficult:

1) Our eyes do a poor job of tracing the path of moving objects.

2) People have difficulty relating the motion of a marble on a spinning disk with ocean currents.

SSC volunteer, Dan Pruzan, has tackled these challenges with a new concept that seeks to solve both issues. Watch Dan's video (4:00) to see how he does it.

Tom Slingsby skippers Team Australia to win Race One of SailGP's San Francisco series. They went on to win the Grand Final and the season overall in a nail biting heat that saw them fall off their foils and nearly lose it to Team New Zealand at the last mark.

As a three-time SailGP season winner, Team Australia epitomizes high performance.