Fast Company: Martine Grael on Joining the SailGP Elite

As a two-time 49erFX Olympic gold medalist, Grael is used to tight starts, high speeds, and sailing at the edge of human and technological performance. But when she stepped into the role of helm for the brand-new Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team, she wasn’t just joining another fleet—she was stepping into a whole new world.

“It was the right time,” she says. “I had just come out of Olympic campaigning, and this was a project I was very happy to take on.”

If timing was everything, so was the vision—and a big part of that came from Alan Adler, a fellow Olympian, entrepreneur, and long-time figure in Brazilian sailing. Adler was the driving force behind bringing Brazil into SailGP, pulling together sponsorship from heavyweight backers like Mubadala Capital and devoting more than a year to laying the foundations for a competitive new team.

Grael is clear about his importance: “He really dedicated his time to start this project. Getting the funding, the right people, and the vision to make this happen—it was a huge effort.”

Why SailGP?

For Grael, the lure of SailGP wasn’t hard to define.

“I was always watching SailGP, thinking how great the racing looked,” she says. “It's just so fast-paced and intense—quick reactions, constant maneuvers, and no time to breathe.”

Coming from the high-adrenaline world of 49erFX Olympic racing, she was no stranger to pressure. But even she admits SailGP is a whole new level. “It’s really tight, with very close calls. You need to make decisions fast. The speed, the noise, the chaos—at first, it’s overwhelming. But once you get into it, it’s just really fun.”

Her first day of training in New Zealand was pure SailGP: chaos, adrenaline, and a pumping breeze. The wind was howling at 30 knots—the wildest conditions the league had ever raced in—and the Brazilians were about to find out what they'd signed up for. No sooner had they sheeted on than the bow slammed into a wave, sending a firehose blast of icy spray straight over the crew. “It hit us full in the face,” Grael laughs. “We were soaked, freezing, and laughing our heads off.” That moment, she says, broke the tension. “It shook off the nerves. After that, we just went for it. It felt like, okay, if we can handle this, we can handle anything.”