WATCH: SailGP preparations for sailors and celebrities halted ahead of 'danger to life' warning
Sailors were preparing for the prestigious SailGP event this afternoon ahead of a weekend of exciting action - but practice was abandoned due to strong winds.
Final preparations saw teams take to the water after a press conference ahead of the weekend event today that also saw celebrities in attendance. But dangerous gusts of wind brought practice to a halt.
It comes as an amber weather warning of “danger to life” has been issued by the Met Office which is expected to hit Portsmouth between 4am and 11am on Saturday – see more details here.
The serious racing is due to kick off on Saturday as 12 national teams compete in identical hydrofoiling F50 catamarans.
The sailing village on Southsea Common will provide a range of facilities for ticketholders throughout the weekend, including musical performances from Tom Grennan on Saturday and Pete Tong on the Sunday.
The promenade from Blue Reef to the Pyramids, as well as Castle Field and the Band Stand Field remains closed to the public for the sailing event taking place in front of Southsea Castle. See more details on the road closures here.
Serving as Portsmouth’s debut, all 12 national teams are due to hit the startline on Saturday for the global racing championship’s return to the UK after a three year hiatus. Spain, Australia and New Zealand top the championship leaderboard – in first, second and third, respectively – but Emirates GBR, Canada and France will all be pushing to maintain contact with the front group.
After a disappointing eighth-place finish in New York, 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.”
The home team had a special guest join them onboard ahead of the weekend racing getting underway – Mark Wright, TV personality, Heart Radio presenter and passionate sports fan – got an exclusive behind the scenes experience into what it's like to be a SailGP athlete.
Wright tried his hand at SailGP racing by joining the athletes for a racing experience – getting a feel for what it takes to fly above the water at over 100km/h. Also taking to the water were A League of Their Own team captain, Jamie Redknapp, and comedian and series regular, Tom Davis, as the two personalities took to the F50s to film for the forthcoming series, making its return in the autumn.