NorthStar SailGP on Waterspeed: 101.3 km/h and the data behind the speed

NorthStar’s F50 reached 101.3 km/h at the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix and 96.6 km/h in Portsmouth, where it also averaged 78.0 km/h over its fastest 10 kilometres. The NorthStar SailGP Team, with Waterspeed as Official Technology Supplier, records its sessions on Waterspeed, and these two sessions show what a fast F50 session looks like beyond the peak.

Where did NorthStar hit 101.3 km/h?

At the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix on Waitematā Harbour, where NorthStar recorded a new in-race top speed of 101.3 km/h. That’s more than 28 metres per second on water.

Wing Trimmer Paul Campbell-James (‘CJ’) recorded the full session on Waterspeed. Inside the activity you can see:

• The exact moment the boat peaked
• The speed build-up leading into the run
• GPS track replay across the course
• Section splits and heatmaps
• Performance data that shows how the speed was achieved

See NorthStar’s 101.3 km/h session on Waterspeed

Portsmouth: 96.6 km/h, and what came with it

During its SailGP session in Portsmouth, NorthStar reached a maximum speed of 96.6 km/h. It covered about 110 kilometres in a session lasting 3 hours, 43 minutes and 48 seconds.

The peak is one moment of that session. The sections below look at how long the team held its speed and how much of it turned into progress upwind and downwind.

How well did NorthStar hold its speed over distance?

Very well. The team averaged 78.0 km/h across its fastest 10-kilometre section, only 10.3 km/h slower than its best 500-metre average. Here are its best averages as the distance grows:

• 500 metres: 88.3 km/h
• 1 kilometre: 86.5 km/h
• 5 kilometres: 79.4 km/h
• 10 kilometres: 78.0 km/h

Between 5 and 10 kilometres the average dropped by only 1.4 km/h, so the team was holding pace over long stretches, with few slow patches pulling the average down.

Why does sustained speed matter?

A peak can come from a favourable mix of wind, angle and course position. Holding speed over distance depends on more of what the crew controls:

• Consistent foil control
• Efficient manoeuvres
• Strong coordination across the team
• Effective course positioning
• The ability to keep momentum through changing conditions

The longer the distance, the harder it is to hold the same average, so the 78.0 km/h over 10 kilometres says more about how the team sailed than the 96.6 km/h maximum does.

What does VMG add to raw speed?

Velocity Made Good (VMG) measures how much of the boat’s speed contributes to progress upwind or downwind. NorthStar’s Waterspeed data recorded:

• Upwind VMG: 34.25 km/h
• Downwind VMG: 72.70 km/h

Downwind, speed and VMG are close, because most of the boat’s speed goes straight into useful progress. Upwind the gap is bigger, since the boat can’t sail directly into the wind. The team has to pick an angle that balances boat speed against the extra distance sailed, and the headline speed doesn’t show that choice.

Explore the Portsmouth session on Waterspeed

Track your own sessions the same way

You can read your own sessions the same way at any speed. After a session, check your best 1 km and 10 km averages and your VMG next to the top speed, and compare them with your last few sessions.

Read more about the partnership on the NorthStar SailGP page, or see how the record for speed on the water evolved over fifty years.