Happy Monday everyone...
In today's newsletter:
- Emirates GBR clinch last-gasp win in Cadiz thriller to seize Championship lead
- SailGP trials new 27-metre wingsail for possible use in Season 5 Grand Final
- Outdone by his mum
- Maxi winners decided in perfect Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez finale
- Enzo's Ferrari
- IMOCA: With some sponsors leaving, should we be worried?
- The Layline: Matt Wearn Upwind Secrets
- Pantaenius Yacht Racing Image Award: One week left to submit your image
Emirates GBR clinch last-gasp win in Cadiz thriller to seize Championship lead
Dylan Fletcher’s Emirates GBR regained control of the 2025 Rolex Sail GP Championship as they sealed victory in dramatic fashion in Cadiz – writes Will Carson for SailGP.
The Brits recovered from a startline penalty that relegated them to the back of the three-team winner-takes-all Final to snatch the lead from rivals the Black Foils just metres from the finish.
As they approached the final turning mark Emirates GBR nipped inside of the Black Foils, forcing their rivals onto a slower angle into the finish line.
It was a move reminiscent of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, when Fletcher pipped Burling to the gold medal right at the finish of the final race.
The victory means Emirates GBR become the first team to win three Grands Prix this season - and crucially puts them three points ahead of the Black Foils on the 2025 Season leaderboard with only one event remaining.
Three-time SailGP champions the BONDS Flying Roos slipped to third overall, five points behind the Brits, after coming home an uncharacteristic seventh in Cadiz.
The result sees them surrender their overall lead, dropping to third, five points behind the Brits.
Meanwhile Germany presented by Deutsche Bank continued their impressive run of form, following up their win in Geneva two weeks ago with a third in Cadiz.
But consistency was lacking for ROCKWOOL Racing, the Danish team so impressive on day one but struggled to find the same level of performance on the second day.
After a pair of mid-fleet results, a disastrous last-place finish in the final race sealed their fate, forcing them to settle for fourth.
Home heroes Los Gallos gave the tens of thousands of fans that packed the Race Stadium and lined the Cadiz shore something to shout about as they claimed victory in race five.
Their hopes of defending their Rolex SailGP Championship title took a blow however, as they slipped to four points from the podium in the Season standings.
Mubadala Brazil notched up their second-ever race win with a stunning victory in race seven, pouncing on Giles Scott’s NorthStar to usurp them from their lead.
The result provided a welcome boost for Martine Grael, SailGP’s only female driver, following their setback in Sassnitz when their F50 collapsed under load.
The US SailGP Team had their best result of the 2025 Season - an eighth - but it was an event to forget for Switzerland and Red Bull Italy, who take 11th and 12th respectively.
All eyes now turn to the Championship-deciding Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2025 Season Grand Final, presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council, taking place on November 29/30.
A series of fleet races will determine who picks up event points, before the top three teams overall will face off in a winner-takes-all race for the Championship title.
SailGP trials new 27-metre wingsail for possible use in Season 5 Grand Final
SailGP is in the final stages of testing a 27 metre wing sail configuration that could be used as early as the 2025 Season 5 Grand Final in Abu Dhabi in November.
The new wing setup is being trialled as a potential replacement to the league’s largest configuration wing – the 29-metre version – and its introduction comes after several mast breakages using this larger setup in the course of Season 5.
Emirates GBR skipper Dylan Fletcher-Scott told Yacht Racing Life that the new config had been introduced as a way of reducing the weight and the windage of the rig large rig so that it can be better paired with the F50 fleet’s new set of light wind boards and rudders, which were first used together at the SailGP Switzerland event in Geneva a fortnight ago.
“We saw one or two failures with the 29 and now there's some more righting moment from the foils and rudders so we are looking for a more balanced wing for the light winds,” he said.
“The 29 was obviously quite heavy, so the goal is to reduce the weight while still getting that little bit of extra heeling moment.
“Along with the new light airs boards and big rudders we should be able to bring the foiling range down a little bit lower...
Outdone by his mum
Neil Hunter is tantalisingly close to making SailGP history. But even if he does, he still won’t be the most famous sailor in his family, let alone from an island of just 4,000 people – writes Alex Conrad for talkSport.
Hunter, who hails from the Isle of Arran in Scotland, is part of the Emirates Great Britain (GBR) team who now sit first in the standings after winning the Spanish SailGP event this weekend in Cadiz.
Hunter and his GBR crew mates look to have all but booked themselves a spot in this season’s Grand Final as one of the top three teams overall for the 2025 season.
If $2million (£1.4m) in prize money for the Grand Final winner isn’t enough enticement, victory at the season-ending event in Abu Dhabi would mark the first time the GBR team has won SailGP.
Yet after the trophy has been lifted, the champagne sprayed and the money deposited into the bank account, it is Hunter’s mother who would likely remain the more recognisable face in sailing should those scenarios become reality.
Sally Hunter was a member of the first all-women crew on Maiden during the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race.
The Maiden team was the first all-female crew to sail around the world, with Sally the only Scot amongst them.
To sailing enthusiasts and proud Scots, Sally is a trailblazer who helped change the world.
To Hunter, at least when growing up, Sally was the woman who helped get him ready for school in the morning and showed him the ropes of sailing.
But the release of a documentary on the Maiden team in 2018 gave Hunter an insight into the remarkable accomplishment his mum was a part of.
“I remember teachers at my school talking to me and saying, ‘Oh my god, I didn’t realise your mum was a part of the Maiden team,’” Hunter told talkSport.com.
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, so what?’ It was normal.
“I remember a few years ago when they brought the new Maiden documentary out, the whole Maiden crew was flown to New York for the premiere. It was like, ‘Oh my god, this is actually a massive deal.’
“She was basically a celebrity. She was definitely more of a sailing celebrity than I am, that’s for sure. That’s what all my mates say, anyway.
“I’m the second-most famous sailor from the Isle of Arran...
Maxi winners decided in perfect Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez finale
Saint-Tropez at the beginning of autumn often provides no wind or too much. But for the last day on Baie de Pampelonne the southwesterly was 12-15 knots, perfect conditions for a worthy finale to the maxi racing at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, organised by the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, with the full schedule completed. The breeze took its time to arrive with the race committee only able to send Maxi 3-5 away after 13:30, followed after 1400 by the Maxi 1 and Grand Prix classes racing a windward-leeward course.
Across the five maxis classes the racing went to the wire in several. Most hair-raising was the Maxi Grand Prix class for the former Maxi 72s where the results were turned on their head with Peter Harrison’s Jolt scoring her first bullet of the regatta, while the two front runners sailed themselves into last place: Yesterday’s winner, Jim Swartz’s Vesper finished last, while overall leader since Tuesday, Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s new wallyrocket 71 Django 7X, was fourth. However this was enough for Django 7X to win overall, but only by a point, from Vesper, with Sir Peter Ogden’s 77ft Jethou another point behind in third.
“It was quite hard today,” said Stronati. “We had a match race but it was a very nice race and Vasco [Vascotto – tactician and team manager) did a good job. We were a bit lucky, like you always have to be, but the boat is good.”
Django 7X is the newest in the Maxi Grand Prix class and is setting a new benchmark – she arrived in Saint-Tropez fresh from the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo where she was crowned IMA Rolex Maxi Grand Prix World Champion.
A more decisive win came in Maxi 1. This class was a mix of five 100 footers and two 80 footers with one of each ultimately filling the top two positions: Karel Komárek’s 100ft V scored her third bullet today and discarded a third to win Maxi 1 by three points from Alessandro Del Bono’s 82ft Capricorno, which finished second today ahead of Galateia. V and Capricorno were the class acts of Maxi 1 this week, with the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Champion, David M Leuschen and Chris Flowers’ Galateia (being campaigned here by Chris and daughter Lizz Flowers), out of action for the first three races following a collision.
For the V team this was their first win since their North Sound Maxi Regatta in the Virgin Islands in March. “We had an exceptional week,” commented V’s tactician, North Sails President, Ken Read. “The team is sailing the boat exceptionally well and it's just really fun to be a part of. There's nothing between us and Galateia - they sail a little better, they beat us; we sail a little better, we beat them...
Enzo's Ferrari
The Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup could see a big changing of the guard – writes Magnus Wheatley on his Rule69Blog.
Unashamedly I am a Francophile. It can be a dangerous thing to say in ‘closed’ myopic Britain these days but for me, France is a wondrous place, a panoply of much that is good and a lot that is great. The ethos of ‘vivre la vie pleinement’ - living life to the fullest - is ever-present from the moment you step foot in the country, no matter which region you alight into.
Damned fine sailors too, arguably the best in the world and whilst we all think that Italy winning the America’s Cup would be a romantic notion unparalleled, a French win would be stratospheric. And you know what? They might just do it. The ultimate dark horses for Naples in 2027 with a boat that is the sister-ship of the current Defender. Plenty of positive pointers there…
Seeing the first pictures coming back from Lorient of the French AC40 in training, it’s a moment. It more than caught my attention. And the news that Enzo Balanger, the ‘King of Garda,’ and the current International Moth World Champion, has bagged the driver seat alongside Quentin Delapierre suddenly raises the competitive temperature of what could be an extraordinary and epoch defining Cup in less than two years’ time. The old guard are in transition and are realising that SailGP is the last golden goose to squeeze. The Cup is moving on fast and youth are in favour. Good to see. Great, generational talents are coming through.
Regular readers will be well aware of my salivation surrounding the rivalry between Harry Melges and Marco Gradoni that thundered to the fore in the Youth America’s Cup. Had it not been for some head-banging errors by the Americans in that one race final, we might have seen more fireworks. Harry definitely had the match of Gradoni, but did he have the better? I’m not sure he did. Marco is one of those very rare sailors that performs when the pressure comes on. He revels in those lights, cameras, action moments, and in the Youth AC he left zero doubt as to his talent. You know and I know that he should really have been on the AC75. Results could well have been different in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final...
IMOCA: With some sponsors leaving, should we be worried?
On 30 September, Bureau Vallée announced the end of its sporting partnership in April 2026 with Louis Burton, initiated in 2010. Since the last Vendée Globe 2024-2025, other sponsors have done the same. Is this a direct consequence of the current economic climate or a return to normal after euphoric years? Sailorz investigated.
Several headline skippers from the last Vendée Globe lost their sponsors for the 2025 season (or at its end): Maxime Sorel (V and B, Monbana and the Mayenne department), Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ), Thomas Ruyant (Advens), Damien Seguin (Groupe Apicil), Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian) and, most recently, Paul Meilhat (Biotherm) and Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée). In a press release on 30 September, Adrien Peyroles, CEO of Bureau Vallée, whom we could not reach (nor the skipper), explained: "In a complex economic context, Bureau Vallée has chosen to reallocate budgets dedicated to sailing sponsorship to other strategic company priorities... Ending this partnership today is a strategic realignment necessary for the company’s proper development."
Asked about these sponsor departures, mostly non-renewals, David Sineau, team manager of Initiatives-Cœur until the end of the year and later seeking to host a Vendée Globe 2028 project with his Planète Racing structure (see our article), did not want to sound alarmist. "Things need to be put into perspective: the anomaly is not today’s situation but rather what we experienced four years ago. At that time, sponsor re-engagement rates were nearly 100%, unprecedented. Historically, partnerships rarely last more than ten or fifteen years. So the fact that several long-term sponsors are leaving now at the same time is not abnormal, even if it may appear as a rupture."
Paul Meilhat, recent winner of The Ocean Race Europe and seeking partners, shares this view: "We are a bit forgetful, we remember yesterday but never the day before. We tend to think that the reality of the last four years was the same as the previous thirty. But that’s not the case. We are moving from an euphoric period to a more “normal” situation. At the end of each cycle, some partnerships end and others begin." He adds: "Currently, many boats are being built and new sailors are arriving in the class, like Ambrogio Beccaria, Corentin Horeau, Élodie Bonafous, Loïs Berrehar, or Francesca Clapcich...
The Layline: Matt Wearn Upwind Secrets
Sailing in Big Breeze Like A Double Gold Medallist
Matt Wearn is considered to be one of the fastest ILCA sailors to ever sail the boat in 15 knots plus – writes Dan Self from The Layline.
Coming from Perth, a notoriously windy and wavy venue, Matt has mastered sailing upwind in big breeze and uses those skills to dominate internationally.
Here are the 3 techniques that put Matt on a different level to the rest of the fleet.
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- Hiking Form
The first thing which makes Matt stand out from everyone else is his hiking ability. He is undoubtedly the strongest hiker in the ILCA 7 fleet, and he is the model for perfect hiking technique.
There are a few things you should notice when you look at Matt’s hiking technique:
- Ankles - one of the most underrated aspects of hiking technique is how close the ankles are to the side of the cockpit. The closer you can get your ankles to the edge of the cockpit, the more you will ‘project’ your weight outside the boat and create righting moment.
- Knees - the back of Matt’s knees are always touching the deck. This is a sign that his quads are actively engaged and he is trying to ‘push’ the boat down through his legs.
- Hiking Strap - Matt has the tightest hiking strap of anyone I’ve ever seen. It’s basically a guitar string. A tighter strap is generally the way to go, but if you’re shorter, you will need a looser strap to help get you further outboard.
- Neutral spine - Matt’s glutes and core are actively engaged meaning his spine is neutral (straight) and he is as ‘tall’ in his hiking posture as possible.
- Hands - Matt keeps his hands very high which allows him to sheet easily, and provides extra weight outboard.
- Bow Down
Popularised by Tom Slingsby and perfected by Matt Wearn, ‘putting the bow down’ is a technique that will make you lethal on the race course.
Since the ILCA is a lightweight (planing) boat, sailing a lower angle upwind can have a big impact on your VMG.
The trick is to be aggressive with your sheeting and body weight. If you sail a lower angle without being aggressive, you’ll just sail lower and slower.
Here are the signs you’re putting the bow down correctly:
- There is a slight spray coming off the windward side of the bow every time you pass over a wave
- Your telltales are flowing straight backwards or slightly upwards.
When you get it right, it will nearly feel like you can get the boat planing upwind, and you’ll easily be able to roll competitors going slower below you...
Pantaenius Yacht Racing Image Award: One week left to submit your image
The deadline for entering the Pantaenius Yacht Racing Image Award and submitting your photo is Sunday 12 October at 11:59 PM (UTC+2). Yacht racing photographers are kindly invited to the awards ceremony at the Yacht Racing Forum in Amsterdam on November 21 at 12:00 am.
Yacht Racing photographers from all over the world have until Sunday 12 October at midnight to submit their best yacht racing image taken since October 14, 2024.
Public voting will begin on 20 October.
The top twenty images selected by the international jury will be exhibited at the Metstrade show in Amsterdam, and viewed by thousands of sailing and yacht racing industry key actors.
Yacht racing photographers are cordially invited to the awards ceremony, which will take place during the Yacht Racing Forum in Amsterdam on November 21 at 12:00 am. Participation for photographers is free, but registration is mandatory.
Quiz Question...
Which crew holds the Guinness World Record time for circumnavigating Great Britain and Ireland?
Answer in the next newsletter...
