Taylor: We’ve taken a huge step forward in the last year – and we’re not done

U.S. SailGP Team driver Taylor Canfield writes direct to fans following the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix

Published 08/7/2026

We came away from the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth with a familiar feeling of late. Overall it was a pretty good event for the team – but it was a frustrating Sunday.

I think that only goes to show how strong the whole league is getting. You've got to go out there and be on your game to get results on a given day. Our starts weren't where they needed to be, and against this fleet you don't get many chances to recover.

So we’ve got a lot of takeaways but, overall, it was a good weekend and we got some good points. It was frustrating not to make the Final, but we have to remember that we've got Sassnitz next, and we've got to keep pushing forward and getting better. If we can really stick to that, then we won't be far off getting spots in the finals shortly.

Plenty to unpack

The starting game changes quite a bit with split fleets – the room, the box. We need to evaluate how we enter the starting box and then ramp up for that final trigger pull.

Boats are hitting the line with a lot more speed, and that final tack, that timing, that final maneuver, and the timing back to the line is becoming a lot more important. Hitting the line at full speed is huge.

So we're definitely going to look into that. In Portsmouth we sailed the 18-meter wing, which we haven't seen in a while, so we're going to get some good data from that and take it forward for any other windy venues.

That's the fun part for us. We get to go back through every race, every decision and every team because there's always another tenth to find.

Talking of the split-fleet racing, it’s just another race for us, although It's definitely a lot less hectic on the racetrack!

I feel like we can race the boats harder - rather than just managing traffic - which is really nice. It opens up opportunities to see these boats' full potential, which is really cool. So it's something we're getting used to, but overall we've managed to have some good days in split-fleet racing. We've got to keep working on getting better in this style of racing, because it looks like this is the future.

Six of the best!

The other change for us was a welcome return to six-up racing and the 18-meter wing. Unfortunately, we haven't had Andrew (Campbell) on the boat in a little while, so to get him back on is great.

Having that extra voice and that extra tactical mind picking apart the racetrack is huge. We've been working hard on the communication side of things. There's definitely some refining to do there as a group, but it's just a different vibe.

U.S. SailGP Team strategist Andrew Campbell returned to the F50 in Portsmouth with the team racing six up

There are more voices, more information, which is a good thing, but at the same time it's something else we need to be sharp with – managing it and making sure we're getting the proper information when we need it.

Team anniversary

We’re in Sassnitz soon (August 22-23) and that's the one-year mark for sailing with this group after Andrew and Michael (Menninger) joined us.

A year ago this group was still figuring each other out. Now we expect to compete with anyone in the league. That's something we're proud of, but we also know we're only scratching the surface.

But I think we're happy across a range of conditions now. Our ability to sail the boat in all configurations and all wind speeds has improved drastically. That's a huge gain for the team, and we feel like we can compete in anything now, which is awesome.

We’ll be taking that mentality to Germany with us, that’s for sure.

Speak soon,

Taylor

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