After travelling 6,000 miles last week to attend the San Francisco SailGP event, it’s nice to be back home and still be able to watch some of the world’s best sailors battling it out on the water. The Princess Sofia Trophy was first held here in Palma de Mallorca back in 1968 and over the years has become a keystone event for sailing’s Olympic classes. This latest edition which starts on Monday, March 31 kicks off the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games regatta cycle and has attracted a fleet just short of 800 entries across 470 mixed, 49er men, 49erFX women, Foiling Kite men, Foiling Kite women, ILCA 6 (formerly Laser Radial), ILCA 7 (formerly Laser), Nacra 17 mixed, IQ Foil men, IQ Foil women (foiling windsurfers). I am going to try to get out on the water a few times next week to watch the racing and in particular I am keen to see the foiling kites in action, as I have never attended a kitefoil regatta and know virtually nothing about how the racing works. Other than that, my goal is to soak up the Olympic classes atmosphere and hopefully grab some interviews with a few of the competitors to find out what life is like as an aspiring Olympian.
In his latest post on his excellent Rule69 Blog, my fellow podcast conspirator Magnus Wheatley writes about the ‘The rise of super-managers in SailGP’ and draws a parallel with the cutthroat hiring and firing of drivers that goes on in Formula 1. Magnus points out that SailGP is not quite at that stage yet but suggests it’s not far away. He is right of course, but his words made me remember France SailGP CEO Bruno Dubois’ 2020 firing of Billy Besson – the team’s original driver – who despite being a world-class Nacra 17 driver, struggled to get to grips with the intricacies of a foiling F50. With the team struggling to get out of last place on the leaderboard and on the heels of a DFL finish at their home event in St. Tropez Dubois knew he had to take decisive action. Soon afterwards, the news broke that Besson was out – to be replaced by another Nacra 17 sailor, Quentin Delapierre.
“Billy has always said he wanted to be judged on his results,” Dubois told the Tip & Shaft website at the time: “We finished almost last in 2019 (5th out of 6), in 2020, we only did one event (in Sydney), we finished last, and at the French event we were last. We cannot accept having a French team like that. Billy is a very good racer, I am not questioning that at all, but when you are not getting the results you want in sport, it's often the captain that you have to change. I know it's tough, but people were warned at the start of the season that on SailGP we can make quick, unilateral decisions, everyone knows that.”
When the interviewer began to say that this sort of move was not common in sailing, Dubois cut them off, saying: “I hear people talk about ‘sport-business, but the Vendée Globe, the Route du Rhum, this is also about sport-business! This is sailing with and for sponsors and when things don't go well, we make changes. Everyone is aware of the rules of the game.”
My WhatsApp has been afire over recent weeks with rampant rumour and speculation over where the next edition of the America’s Cup will be staged. I will hold my hands up and say that I have absolutely no idea what the venue is going to be. My preferred venue would have been Valencia, Spain but the devastating floods the city experienced last year seems to have ruled it out of the bidding. Among the venues that have been bandied about are Auckland, Jeddah, Istanbul, somewhere in Greece, and somewhere in Italy. From my own selfish point of view I would love to see another European America’s Cup cycle. I don’t know enough about Istanbul to comment on its suitability to host the AC. Likewise I would need to know the proposed Greek venue before commenting. When it comes to the prospect of the Cup going to Italy, well, wouldn’t it be odd for a country trying to win the Cup to host the regatta? Maybe it's just me. At least with the 37th America’s Cup being held in Barcelona there was not the confusion of Spain mounting a challenge. Here’s what New Zealand news outlet Stuff has to say on it all.
Hot on the heels of the news that next edition of The Ocean Race will include a stopover in Auckland, comes word that Kiwi Conrad Colman, the first sailor to complete two Vendée Globe races without burning a drop of fossil fuel, has announced a bold new campaign: Aotearoa Ocean Racing. The project sees the proud New Zealander who’s spent the past decade taking on the French offshore elite, returning home to build something uniquely Kiwi — a team capable of winning The Ocean Race.
Teaming up with fellow New Zealander Rowan Gyde — a marine industry specialist with a background in business and diplomacy — the duo are setting out to build more than just a race team. They’re creating a movement, one with clear pathways for women, youth, and Māori participation, both on the water and behind the scenes.
“I grew up in Auckland watching the great ocean racers charging in and out of the harbour,” says Colman. “Now I want to build a new Kiwi team to take on the challenge again, as a team and as a country.”
Plans are already underway for a cutting-edge foiling IMOCA, with strong New Zealand involvement in the design and build. With bases in both France and New Zealand, the team will straddle the global offshore racing scene while staying true to its roots.
The project has already drawn support from partners in both hemispheres, and Colman’s sustainability credentials — having twice raced around the world without fossil fuels — give the campaign a meaningful edge. With The Ocean Race set to return to Auckland in 2027, the timing couldn’t be better.
Details are here but expect further announcements soon on crew, leadership, and sponsors. Aotearoa Ocean Racing is shaping up to be a major new force — proudly Kiwi, fiercely competitive, and built with the future in mind. Nice one Conrad.
Finally, my favourite read this week was from Herb McCormick on the Sailing World website, writing about his experience aboard the Beneteau 44.7 Black Magic in this past summer's Round Ireland Race. I have done that race twice and I can testify to how exciting and fun it is. I particularly remember the first race I did when we experienced surfing giant Atlantic swells while sailing up the Emerald Isle's west coast. They were the biggest waves any of us had experienced at that point and everyone aboard felt like we were crossing the Southern Ocean. Herb's story is great writing about a fantastic adventure. Read the story and you will want to do the race.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
Justin Chisholm
