Sailing: Nathan Outteridge and Japan SailGP team dropped from circuit 'indefinitely'

Nathan Outteridge led the Japan SailGP team to back-to-back runner up finishes in the competition's first two seasons. Photo: Ricardo Pinto/SailGP

SailGP will be continuing its third season without Team New Zealand sailor Nathan Outteridge and his perennially contending Japanese outfit.

Despite finishing second in both of the organisation's campaigns to date, the Japanese team are yet to make the starting line this season and have missed the first two events of the year.

While it was expected they would miss the first three due to a shortage of vessels, SailGP has confirmed it will be pushing forward without the Japanese representatives.

"After much deliberation and taking into account logistical and commercial considerations, SailGP has made the difficult decision to pause the participation of Japan SailGP team indefinitely," SailGP said in a statement.

"The league would like to thank Nathan Outteridge and all of the athletes and staff involved in the team for their outstanding performance in the first two seasons of SailGP and wish them all the very best for the future.

"Season 3 will continue with nine teams racing for the remainder of the season."

This year, SailGP welcomed two new teams to the series in a move that would have expanded the fleet to 10 teams. Canada and Switzerland were the new nations to be represented, alongside Japan, Australia, USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, France, Denmark and Spain.

However, that meant an additional two boats were needed and only nine were ready to go for the season opener in Bermuda in mid-May.

Despite Japan being one of the stronger and more consistent teams from a competition standpoint, the decision that they would be the team to sit out the opening regattas was made based on "logistical and commercial considerations".

"The event made some decisions based on a few criteria; one of them is just how much sponsorship that team is bringing in," New Zealand SailGP coach Ray Davies explained to the Herald before the event in Bermuda.

"It's a pretty tough circuit; there's a huge amount of effort that has to go into that whole side of a team as well. It's not just the results. They sailed incredibly well; Nathan's got a remarkable track record in SailGP and he's often been the guy who has had to deal with changes in his crew.

"Full credit to the New Zealand team that they have been able to secure enough support to not be at the bottom of the pecking order. The team as a whole, it's actually really quite an honour to be part of it.

"They're really taking the whole game very professionally; all the things that happen on shore with the branding etc., that's also the way this circuit works; that's also a big deal, because next thing you're not on the circuit anymore."

Well-credentialed helmsman Outteridge, who was part of the commentary team for the 36th America's Cup in Auckland, was signed by Team New Zealand late last year and is expected to play a big role in their plans for the 37th edition in Barcelona in 2024.