"It's a really great step forward for the female athletes to be in the thick of it, witnessing it all and getting stuck in," Hannah Mills, who will be racing with the British SailGP team, said; watch the action live on Sky Sports Mix from 3.30pm on Saturday
Friday 8 October 2021 16:13, UK
Female athletes will race alongside the men for the first time at the sixth event of SailGP Season 2 in Cadiz, Andalusia on Saturday and Sunday.
The Spain Sail Grand Prix, which marks the end of the European section of SailGP's season, delivers a landmark moment for the competition and sport, with female and male sailors competing together.
SailGP's Women's Pathway Program was launched ahead of Season 2, with the aim of 'fast-tracking the development of top female sailors' and now the women selected are preparing for a race day, for the first time.
The female athlete's shift from training to racing, comes following SailGP's decision to introduce a new standard configuration in terms of crew numbers.
In normal sailing conditions, there will now be six athletes onboard each F50 instead of five, and in the lighter winds, numbers will increase from three to four.
Great Britain's Hannah Mills will join Sir Ben Ainslie on the British F50, and Mills, who recently won Olympic gold in Tokyo, cannot wait to compete.
"I'm incredibly excited to be racing this weekend," Mills said.
"It's a really great step forward for the female athletes to be in the thick of it, witnessing it all, getting stuck in and helping wherever we can - tactics, strategy, and communications - I am really excited for that.
"The adrenaline rush is going to be massive, it already is when we do the practice racing."
She is a huge, huge talent. There is a lot of talk about how critical it is in this league and in these short races to spot the wind and be in the right area of the course, and Hannah undoubtedly can help us with that.
The USA team house the youngest athlete to ever compete in SailGP - CJ Perez - and the 18-year-old is fresh off the back of winning the 2021 USA WASZP National Championship.
"We're moving at speeds never experienced before and flying so high out of the water," she said about being on a F50.
"I'm most looking forward to fighting it out at the starting line this weekend. I can't imagine how exciting that will be."
At their home event, the Spanish SailGP team will also be eager to impress. Wing trimmer Florian Trittel shared that their work started with identifying crew roles within this new configuration.
"It is a huge opportunity for us and the Women's Pathway Program, finally having six crew onboard," Trittel said.
"It is a new role that we didn't have before on the F50s, and we have to brainstorm and figure out what the tasks and responsibilities for this sixth role can be, and how to get the most value out of them.
"We know four eyes see better than two eyes, and now we have two further eyes onboard, and that is going to help us race faster and better."
Following back-to-back event wins in Taranto and Saint-Tropez, Japan's SailGP team now leads the way in the overall standings.
Nathan Outteridge and his outfit are two points ahead of the United States and Australia in second, with the British team following three points behind them.
With 10 Championship points available for a victory in Cadiz, every outfit will know the importance of performing strongly before the competition takes a break ahead of the seventh event of the year in December.
Meanwhile, the French SailGP team will be working with a new driver in Cadiz, as Quentin Delapierre steps up for the first time after being selected to replace Billy Besson.
Delapierre's experience in offshore racing with Thomas Coville and his success in the Nacra class caught the eye of the French SailGP team manager Bruno Dubois.
"Quentin is part of this new generation of sailors who are the epitome of the very best in professional sport," Dubois said. "They are constantly driving to search for excellence in all areas.
"The sporting level of the global championship continues to grow and following the performance at the last Grand Prix, we need to breathe new life into the France SailGP Team to meet the multiple challenges there are, both on and off the water."
Watch every race day of SailGP Season 2, live on Sky Sports. The opening day in Cadiz is live on Sky Sports Mix from 3.30pm on Saturday. The second day of racing starts at the same time, also on Sky Sports Mix, on Sunday.
