This weekend, Artemis strategist Julia Gross is returning to where her SailGP journey began.
Last year, she made her debut in the competition with Red Bull Italy in the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix Portsmouth race, helping the team to a fifth-place finish, one of their best results all season.
But this year, she has been a stalwart for Artemis, a new team from her homeland of Sweden, and is relishing the chance to take to the South Coast’s waters once again.
She said: “My first SailGP race ever was last year here in Portsmouth, so it's quite a different feeling going into this weekend than a year ago, because I do feel more experienced, and I'm with another team.
“We feel like we're in a really good spot to just really take the next step. I think we've felt from the start, since we started off quite well in the first regatta, we know that we were up there.
“But obviously we're a new team, so there are so many things that we need to go through together and there are moments where we really feel like a new team still.
“But here it's a really, really good place to be and we know we can be really fast built around the course.”
SailGP boats exceed 100km/h in close to shore, stadium racing. Emirates GBR are reigning world champions - and will be looking to get a home win in front of a sold-out crowd this weekend.
But despite the high-stakes all-action drama, Gross was not always fixated on the prospect of a professional sailing career, instead focussing on graduating with a law degree, before pivoting back once the opportunity to be a strategist representing Sweden arose.
She said: “I never saw sailing as a career path that I was going to be able to do for a long time as a professional. I did Olympic campaigning, but after that, I never saw the next step as a woman in sailing.
“I knew that I always had to have another career, and honestly, with law, I like problem-solving, and I think law is like problem-solving without the maths. I learned a lot, and yes, it's not more complicated than that, actually.”
That may be, but the technology on the F50s flying around the SailGP courses is some of the most mind-bending in sport, allowing the hydrofoils to lift the catamarans clear from the water below.
And Gross has battled to be one of the few women to participate in this gender-integrated sport, though more are breaking through with each fresh season thanks to the support work from the organisation.
She said: “Sailing a F50 requires so much teamwork, and you're in sync with the people you're sailing with. Everything goes so fast, so you need to understand each other exactly what you're in, when you say two words at the right time.
“To become a professional is something you have to go all in. You have to really put the time in, and the more you can see the path to go as a woman, then you are able to actually put your time, your soul, and everything into it.”
The Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix returns to Portsmouth on 25-26 July. Limited tickets are still available via //SailGP.com/Portsmouth.
