SailGP comes to Valencia for the first time this weekend, and Emirates GBR arrive needing more than novelty value from the occasion. Dylan Fletcher's crew face another must-perform outing as they scrap to keep their Grand Final qualification hopes alive at the season's tenth event.
Valencia is no stranger to elite sailing. The city hosted the 32nd and 33rd America's Cups, and its waterfront has seen plenty of world-class racing over the years. What it hasn't witnessed is SailGP's brand of short, sharp, high-speed fleet racing in identical F50 catamarans, and that changes this weekend.
Form has not been kind to Emirates GBR lately.
"We've not had a great run of it recently, but we've been in this position before," the team said. "Last year we managed to turn it around and come through strongly. We know in SailGP it's all about small margins, there's still plenty to play for and we're confident we can turn things around."
British fans are expected to turn out in force. UK ticket holders make up a large share of the crowd for this event, and the team has leaned into that support through The Fleet, its growing fan community. A series of activities is planned across the weekend, including a Fleet 5K run along Valencia's beachfront on Friday evening, with team members joining supporters for the run.
Sir Ben Ainslie, Emirates GBR CEO, said: "Valencia is one of the great sailing cities and it's fantastic to see SailGP racing here for the first time.
"We've seen the SailGP Championship grow exponentially around the world, and we're expecting a great turnout of British supporters travelling to Valencia this weekend, which means a huge amount to the team.
"The support we receive around the world continues to grow, and hopefully we can give the Emirates GBR fans in Valencia plenty to cheer about."
The Spain Sail Grand Prix runs Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September, with racing starting at 12:30 BST each day. For Fletcher and his crew, a strong showing on the new stage would be timely proof that the turnaround they're promising has already begun.
