SAN DIEGO (AP) — In the first transfer fee deal in SailGP history, two-time Olympic gold medalist Giles Scott will take over as skipper of the Canadian team following its purchase by biotech entrepreneur Dr. Greg Bailey.
Scott will leave Emirates GBR to lead the Canadian team, which had been in danger of dropping out of tech titan Larry Ellison's global league until Bailey bought it.
“This isn't, you know, pound your chest, you're the owner of the team. This is basically about having a robust Canadian team that’s competitive," Bailey told The Associated Press in a video call from Barcelona, where the deal was announced.
Ben Ainslie, the CEO and co-owner of Emirates GBR, negotiated the landmark deal for an undisclosed fee. Scott took over as skipper of Emirates GBR midway through Season 4 after Ainslie stepped away to focus on the America’s Cup.
Ainslie is skipper and CEO of INEOS Britannia, which on Wednesday moved within one win of reaching the 37th America's Cup match in Barcelona. Scott is head of the sailing team for INEOS Britannia as well as a backup helmsman. Britain hasn't reached the America's Cup match since 1964 and is trying to win back the silver trophy it lost to the schooner America in 1851.
“It was a pretty tough decision to make but I definitely feel that I’ve made the right one," Scott told the AP. “Being able to build this new team up with an amazing foundation that it already has is just an opportunity that I didn’t want to pass up."
Scott signed a multiyear contract to replace skipper Phil Robertson. Scott said Ainslie supported his decision. “He's always said he wants to do right by me. There's certainly no bitterness and it was all good."
Scott earned his first SailGP win as skipper at the Canada Sail Grand Prix in Halifax in early June. He has a Canadian passport and spent his early childhood in Ottawa, where his father worked for the Canadian government. Scott won gold medals in the Finn Class in the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics. He followed Ainslie, who is the most decorated Olympic sailor of all time with five medals, including four golds.
Ainslie said Scott did “an excellent job” with Emirates GBR "and we are sure he will go on to achieve great things with the Canadian team. ... It shows the level of the team’s performance last season as well as the strength of the commercialization of the league.”
There won't be a SailGP regatta in Canada during Season 5 but the circuit will return in 2026 during Season 6.
Bailey is a physician, financier and entrepreneur. He is co-founder and executive chairman of Juvenescence and chairman of Max Insurance.
This is his first foray into sports and he said he plans to bring other investors into the ownership group. “This isn’t an ego thing,” he said.
Bailey said he thinks SailGP is reaching a major inflection point as most teams have pivoted from league ownership to private ownership.
“This is a financial investment," he said. "It saved the Canadian team from potentially not being able to compete. We’ll be able to get a Canadian event back on the schedule. It’s exciting and I think it’s going to be an up-and-coming sport. It’s quite compelling.”
Ownership had reverted to the league before Bailey bought it. Although the purchase price wasn't disclosed, the league said team valuations have risen above $45 million.
Bailey is joined by Phil Kennard, the team principal and CEO. Kennard is a former UK champion in sailing’s 49er Class and has had commercial roles with the PGA Tour, Formula One and the British team in the 2017 America's Cup, which was led by Ainslie and included Scott.
SailGP is contested in foiling 50-foot catamarans. There are now 11 teams and 14 regattas around the world. Teams compete to reach the season-ending, $2 million, winner-take-all podium race.
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Bernie Wilson has covered sailing for The Associated Press since 1991.