Deep Dive: Who Are The Shore Team And What Do They Do?
We take a closer look at the team behind the U.S. SailGP Team crew: The Shore Team
Published 04/17/2025
No team is complete without the staff working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the success of its athletes – and that’s certainly the case when it comes to SailGP.
At the U.S. SailGP Team, it is the responsibility of the Shore Team to work alongside the sailors, SailGP and the front office to provide operational support before, during and after a race weekend. What you see at the race stadium or on television is just a glimpse into what goes into assisting the crew throughout the season.
So, what does the Shore Team do?
The first to arrive for race week and the last to leave, their remit is vast, wide-ranging and involves working closely with SailGP to oversee the assembly, disassembly, maintenance and management of the team’s F50 catamaran. They also provide support for the towing and craning of the vessel in and out of the water at each event.
Read: What Do The Crew Carry?
One way SailGP differs from other classes of sailing is that there is a centralized tech team who work on all 12 boats in the fleet. The F50s are identical in build and it therefore falls to the league’s team of highly skilled engineers and technicians to work on some of the more specialized aspects of the boats, including electronics and hydraulics.
The work undertaken by the U.S. SailGP Shore Team will also be informed by issues logged by the sailors while on the water. They will repair a range of ad-hoc issues and thoroughly check the boat and its equipment before, during and after sailing – something the sailors will also do, focusing on their own individual areas of responsibility.
U.S. SailGP Team Shore Manager Josh McKnight
Safety remains of paramount responsibility for the U.S. SailGP Team - and throughout the fleet - and one of Shore Manager Josh McKnight’s responsibilities is to run through capsize and towing procedures, while ensuring all safety equipment and righting lines remain in good condition. Aussie Josh runs the U.S. SailGP Team Shore Team. An accomplished sailor in his own right, he previously won a Moth World Championship and will liaise with Driver Taylor Canfield and the team to make sure the boat is right.
The F50 isn’t our only boat on the water though. The chase boat is driven by Ollie Bampton, who boasts two America’s Cup campaigns as chase boat captain for Alinghi RedBull Racing and Ineos Britannia, and a knack for being able to fix anything – be that boats, engines or cars!
U.S. SailGP Team Chase Boat Driver Ollie Bampton
This is another role that requires skill both on and off the water, following the F50’s every move from afar. Between races, the chase boat will tie up to the F50, making it easier to keep it stationary and facilitate any on-board work that needs to be completed. On board are Josh, Ollie, the spare sailor on the day, members of the U.S. SailGP Team’s media department and another key member of the Shore Team: Ryan Sinnott.
Ryan joined the U.S. SailGP Team from SailGP’s tech team having previously been a boat builder. He works on calibration, which is the last thing before the boat hits the water, focused on the alignment of the foils on the boat. It’s also part of Ryan’s remit to check the team’s safety equipment before going out on the water.
U.S. SailGP Team Shore Team memeber Ryan Sinnott
So what does race week look like for the tireless Shore Team?Firstly, it begins four days beforehand with a three-day build time. That is because the SailGP tech team must coordinate their focus on the specialized components of the boats, across each of the 12 teams. Once the F50 has been assembled - with the exception of the wing, which remains with the league - the next job is getting the boat on the water.
Each team is assigned a start time for craning, with the Shore Team assembling up to two hours in advance of this to run through an exhaustive list of checks and jobs to ensure the F50 is in perfect condition. They’ll then roll the boat to the craning area where the wing will be added and the boat craned onto the water – a 40-minute process on its own.
By now, the Shore Team are on the chase boat performing any last-minute checks, including comms, ahead of the athletes arriving. The sailors will then perform their own system checks before racing begins.
Enter Our New York VIP Giveaway!
Afterwards, it is the same process but in reverse. Any issues will have been sent through to Josh in a WhatsApp group and shared with the SailGP technicians. Once the boat has been craned out of the water and the wing removed, the sailors help the Shore Team wash and dry the boat to avoid corrosion. The F50 is then suspended in the U.S. SailGP Team tent until the following day. At this stage, the foils can be fully extended to be checked and worked on as required.
Once the race weekend is complete, the pack up of the F50 is a methodical process. The wing is looked after by SailGP between events, but everything else is under the team’s care once the league has connected or disconnected the batteries and any other electronics.
It is one giant game of Tetris putting everything away in its rightful place and takes the best part of two days. The first day is spent cleaning, drying and dismantling the F50 piece by piece, before completing the pack up on day two. The Shore Team’s work is finally done on Wednesday – a full three days after racing commences!
Claim your own U.S. SailGP Team Crew Card
Join the Crew
Support
Contact
Powered By
© FanCapital LLC