After a disappointingly lacklustre light airs opening event in Dubai last month, the fifth season of Sail GP exploded into life this past weekend as strong winds in Auckland New Zealand saw the 11-strong international F50 fleet put on a spectacular show in front of a reported 25,000 fans.
Sailing is not a sport that always lends itself easily to attempts to stage grandstand racing. At many venues setting the course close enough to shore for viable viewing means compromising the quality of the racing. But when the stars align – as they very much did in New Zealand over the weekend – the results can be fantastic.

The SailGP organisers were clearly confident that New Zealand’s reputation for having the world’s most passionate sailing fans would ensure their ‘build it and they will come’ strategy with the 8,000-seat grandstand on the water’s edge in the city’s Wynyard Quarter would pay off. Watching on TV the grandstand looked to be almost completely full on both days – with an equally impressive fleet of spectator boats encircling the racecourse throughout the weekend.
Sadly the SailGP fleet was once again not at full strength with the French team missing the event because of technical issues with their ‘new’ boat. The French boat was originally Emirates Team New Zealand’s 35th America’s Cup-winning boat from Bermuda in 2017 which had to be unbolted from the side of the Kiwi base in Auckland before a comprehensive upgrade to match the F50 measurement rules. Quentin Delapierre’s squad had missed the Season 5 opening event in Dubai while the boat was still being modified and were itching to get back in action in Auckland. However an unresolvable issue with their wing sail saw them sidelined for a frustrating second time.

Meanwhile, Giles Scott’s Canadian outfit took part on Saturday but had to withdraw before racing on Sunday after a nasty shoulder injury to their flight controller Billy Gooderham during a nosedive that also split his crash helmet.
Winds in the high teens low twenty knots over the weekend and with a strong current running along the Auckland waterfront kicking up a bumpy sea state conditions were challenging to say the least for the six-person crews as they wrangled their foiling catamarans around the course. Adding to the difficult levels for the flight controllers in particular were the fleet’s new t-shaped foils which were used for the first time at the second event.

The new foils were introduced to make the boats faster and more stable but with completely different operating characteristics to the previous generation of boards the crews had their hands full trying to achieve steady flight in the gusty wavy conditions. There were skyrockets, splashdowns and nosedives aplenty with none of the crews proving immune to mistakes over the extended seven-race fleet race series and the final three-way winner-takes-all final.

Tom Slingsby’s Australians, Diego Botin’s Spaniards, and Dylan Fletcher-Scott’s Brits were the most consistent over the fleet racing to secure their berths in the final match race where the Aussies outperformed their two rivals with a consummate demonstration of slick boat handling and smart tactical and strategic nous to take the event win. The Spanish chased hard throughout but had to settle for second ahead of a frustrated British crew who will be rueing a fluffed first gybe that put them out of contention early on.

Peter Burling’s Kiwi hometown heroes struggled with wing issues and looked generally out of sorts throughout the event. A series of poor starts saw them continually having to fight their way back through the fleet and despite winning race four and finishing second in race seven the Kiwis missed out on the final with a fourth overall.
After a string of mid fleet scores Nicolai Sehested’s Danes finished off the regatta in style with two solid race wins that left them in fifth overall. Rugga Tito’s newcomer Italian crew sailed with Australian Jason Saunders as replacement flight controller on loan from the French and the much improved-looking team turned in three third places to finish the event in sixth. Meanwhile, Sébastien Schneiter’s Swiss team struggled for consistency with a series of back of the fleet finishes punctuated by a first and a third, leaving them in seventh.

The combined scores from the Dubai and Auckland events sees Great Britain atop the leaderboard tied on 17 points with second placed New Zealand. Australia sits in third but tied on 16 points with fourth placed Spain.
Next up on the SailGP calendar is another southern hemisphere event as the teams converge on Sydney, Australia for Season 5’s third event on February February 8-9.
EVENT RESULTS ITM NEW ZEALAND SAIL GRAND PRIX | AUCKLAND
1 // Australia 10 points
2 // Spain 9 points
3 // Emirates Great Britain 8 points
4 // New Zealand 7 points
5 // ROCKWOOL Denmark 6 points
6 // Red Bull Italy 5 points
7 // Switzerland 4 points
8 // Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank 3 points
9 // Mubadala Brazil 2 points
10 // Canada 1 point
11 // USA 0 season points accrued for 11th
** France to be awarded 5 points after missing the Auckland event due to no fault of its own
UPDATED ROLEX SAILGP 2025 SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD
1 // Emirates Great Britain 17 season points
2 // New Zealand 17 points
3 // Australia 16 points
4 // Spain 16 points
5 // ROCKWOOL Denmark 10 points
6 // France 10 points
7 // United States 8 points
8 // Switzerland 6 points
9 // Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank 6 points
10 // Italy 5 points
11 // Brazil 3 points
