Giles Scott may have two Olympic gold medals and several America’s Cup campaigns to his name, but rarely, if ever, has the sailor had to learn so much so quickly.
These campaigns have been in the works for months, everything builds on the crucial race.
However, Sir Ben Ainslie taking over as pilot of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP boat was a bit like preparing for an exam.
While Ainslie’s decision to pass on the baton last week did not come entirely out of the blue, Scott admits his experience piloting the super-fast F50 foil catamarans used in the fast and furious world of SailGP is limited.
So it’s been a whirlwind week getting up to speed for the 36-year-old on the waters of Abu Dhabi ahead of the seventh round of the 2023-2024 Championship this weekend.
Giles Scott is ready for his first weekend of racing as pilot of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP boat
Two-time Olympic champion Scott now takes on a faster and more intense challenge in SailGP
Sir Ben Ainslie has stepped down as pilot of the Emirates GBR SailGP boat
‘I didn’t do any competitions, but I did a few training days. It’s fair to say I’m pretty green,” Scott told Mail Sport.
‘I raced the boats a lot in Bermuda, but that was in the role of tactician, which is very different from the role of driver.
‘Since then I’ve been to Los Angeles, did a few events last year and was in Dubai for Christmas.
‘I have days in training, but no events.’
Fortunately, Ainslie, who remains CEO of Emirates Team GBR, has passed on his knowledge and wisdom to Scott, who is also his teammate on the Ineos Britannia America’s Cup boat.
Scott had the benefit of an extra day of training in Abu Dhabi on Thursday before scheduled practice on Friday, with the races taking place on Saturday and Sunday.
“I’ve talked to him a lot about the nuances of the handover and what he’s learned over the seasons he’s done, what he thinks are the gaps where drivers go wrong or perform well,” says Scott.
‘That has certainly been very useful and I have tried to be as good a sponge as possible.
Scott was able to pilot the British boat in Dubai before Christmas as he took the wheel
Scott embraces this opportunity and believes he has the best crew he could ask for
‘The great thing is that everyone on board is of top quality. If you were to jump on a boat with that little bit of experience, you would want to jump with the crew I have. I’m certainly lucky.
“Looking forward to this weekend, it would be easy to get way too wide-eyed.
‘I think I just have to try to stick to the simple things and not cause any big problems.
‘You can even see from the experience teams that some mistakes are made and when you look back, they are very stupid mistakes in sailing.
“But in that style of racing, under that pace, they sneak in very easily, so you have to keep it a bit simple.”
The change to the driver’s seat comes as the British boat sits comfortably in fourth place in this season’s standings, behind Australia, Denmark and New Zealand.
Only the top three boats will make it to the grand finals in San Francisco in July. Ainslie and his team reached last year’s final and finished third, with Australia taking the honors again.
A highlight came when Great Britain won the Saint-Tropez SailGP event in September 2023
Ainslie and Scott are part of the INEOS Britannia boat praying to win the America’s Cup
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS are backing Ainslie’s bid to win the prestigious America’s Cup
“We’re definitely in the mix and well within reach of that top three spot,” says Scott.
‘Everyone, including me, wants to be in a position to achieve that top three position. There really is a lot of danger in SailGP and it’s amazing because there are so many events that you end up seeing the whole season as if it were one regatta.
‘You have good weekends and bad weekends, and within that you have good and bad races. Over the course of the entire season it evens itself out.
‘To get into that top three position, you have to have your best three boats in there. But the fact that it is only one race and, as you saw during the race, boats can finish one minute first and one minute last, there is a high risk.
“You just have to get yourself into that last race and if you can do that, you have almost as good a chance as any other boat to get that last race for the overall victory.”
One of the reasons why 46-year-old Ainslie retired as a driver for SailGP was his busy schedule, which included qualifying races for the America’s Cup, business commitments and of course time for family.
Now Scott is the one taking on extra responsibility.
“It is busier, much busier, but the great thing about the schedules is that many sailors in the Cup and SailGP do cross over,” he says.
Great Britain has a very good chance of reaching the important San Francisco final in July
‘Luckily for all of us, the schedules fit together very well. Of course, there are periods when it is busy and others when it is not.
‘As always, if you could draw it perfectly on a calendar you could do a little better, but it fits together very nicely.
‘The most important thing for us sailors is that the two are mutually beneficial in the sense that we become better sailors and from my point of view I want to win in SailGP and I want to win in the Cup.
‘Those two walk very nicely next to each other.’