Sail GP, which is the sport’s equivalent of Formula 1 racing, returns to Plymouth Sound this weekend and is a magnet for South Hams sailors and watersports enthusiasts.

It’s the third event in the global calendar and follows events in Bermuda and Chicago.

This year Ben Ainslie, the most decorated Olympic sailor of all-time, will be racing in his first home event in this competition. With him in the driving seat the Great Britain SailGP Team hope to build on their 2nd and 3rd place finishes in Bermuda and Chicago.

Ben describes Plymouth Sound as a “challenging but great venue”, with the breakwater providing “relatively flat waters” and the Hoe acting as a natural amphitheatre. “It ticks all the boxes,” he says. One key obstacle for the teams will be the unpredictability of the British summer weather which, Ainslie says, can be ‘baking hot with a light sea breeze or pouring rain and blowing 25 knots’. “You just don’t know what you’re going to get.” Nevertheless, Ainslie is excited to hit home waters. “You don’t get many opportunities to race at home at this sort of level and it’s extra special to race in front of a home crowd.”

Tom Slingsby’s Australia tops’s the rankings with 20 points followed by Canada on 17 and Great Britain with the same number of points. Regional rivals France are in sixth place with nine points.

The nine teams use state-of-the-art F50 catamarans.

The races take place on Saturday (July 30) between 2pm and 3.30pm and on Sunday (July 31) at the same times.

They are preceded by an Official Practice Day on Friday (July 29) with the action also between 2pm and 3.30pm.

The following races will be held in Denmark on August 19 and 20.