Mark Wright and Jamie Redknapp joined Emirates GBR on-board the team’s F50 race boat ahead of the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth this weekend. Television personality and Heart Radio presenter, Wright, and former footballer and Sky Sports pundit, Redknapp, took on the Sixth Sailor experience and took part in the adrenaline-fuelled racing on-board the 50ft foiling catamaran.
Speaking after the experience, Wright said: “That was one of the best experiences of my life and I will never forget it. Big up SailGP, wow!”
While on-board the F50 race boat, Redknapp said: “This is like the coolest waterpark ever!”
Redknapp was racing his A League of Their Own colleague, comedian Tom Davis, who was on-board the Canada SailGP Team’s F50. The race will feature in a SailGP special of the Sky show this autumn.
SailGP returns to UK shores for the first time in three years this weekend, with the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix taking place in Portsmouth on Saturday and Sunday. Emirates GBR is currently fourth on the leaderboard after a tough stint at the recent US events.
Emirates GBR Driver Dylan Fletcher said the team would be looking for redemption – and a welcome boost from home crowd support. “We didn’t bring our A game [in New York and San Francisco] and we’ve spent a lot of time analysing and working on that," said Fletcher. “The SailGP season is long and we said at the start that it’s going to be up and down. Hopefully we’ve had our bad events, put them under the rug and from here it will be all the way to the top.”
Emirates GBR co-owner and CEO Sir Ben Ainslie welcomed the pressure on the team to perform. “People talk about pressure in sport and it’s definitely an added pressure when you see tens of thousands of people there and they’re all expecting the home team to win. Frankly, it’s a little bit intimidating but at the same time, we say in sport pressure is a privilege and I think Dylan, Hananh and the rest of the team will really thrive off that.”
The Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix kicks off at 16:00 BST today with all the action available to watch live on TNT Sports. Last few tickets remain for the weekend’s action, with performances by Tom Grennan on Saturday and Pete Tong on Sunday, find out all the details at SailGP.com/Portsmouth.