Hometown racer relishes SailGP moment in Halifax

Team Canada's Billy Gooderham says he's thrilled to be able to compete in the first-ever Sail Grand Prix event held on Canadian Waters.

Team Canada's Billy Gooderham says he's thrilled to be able to compete in the first-ever Sail Grand Prix event held on Canadian Waters.

Saturday's races in the Halifax Harbour felt like a homecoming for Gooderham, who now calls Bedford, N.S., his home after moving here last summer.

The 35-year-old said the crowd that lined the Halifax harbour was the largest he's ever raced in front of and the loudest he's experienced so far on the SailGP tour.

"It was amazing, the support from the city and the size of the crowd," said Gooderham, who has been racing professionally for more than a decade. "Even through all the noise and sailing upwind, you could hear the crowd, it was amazing."

Leading into Saturday's races, organizers were anticipating a crowd of more than 10,000 spectators but it's likely there were even more, as tickets for the event sold out quickly and hundreds more viewed the races from free access points along the Halifax and Dartmouth side of the harbour.

"From one end to the other, I don't think there was room for one more person here on this waterfront," said Julien di Biase, chief operations officer with SailGP.

Throngs of people lined paid access points along the waterfront and along wooden piers that jetted out in the raceway. Some of the boats had to make hairpin turns to manoeuvre tight corners and spectators along the Halifax pier.