SailGP has announced a five-year plan which it says will transform the global high-performance sailing circuit with more teams, more events, and a bigger global audience.
The organisation says the plans laid out in the ‘SailGP 2030’ strategy document are the roadmap to SailGP becoming one of the world's leading sports and entertainment properties by the end of the decade.
Currently featuring 13 national teams racing across 13 events, the league plans to expand both the number of teams on the start line and the number of annual events in repeat host cities by 2030.
"Our first five years were about building strong foundations, creating an exceptional, fan-centric sporting product, testing what works and learning,” said SailGP CEO Russell Coutts.
"Now we move into a different phase, one that's defined by audience growth, consistency and scale. We have a product that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world's leading sports championships in terms of its appeal as a sports and entertainment property, and the next five years are about making sure the world's sports fans, cities and brands know it."
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As the 52 Super Series arrives Lanzarote for the first time in the history of the world’s leading grand prix monohull circuit, for the Marina Rubicon Lanzarote 52 Super Series Sailing Week, Takashi Okura’s recently crowned world champions Sled are the team to beat.
After winning last month’s Rolex TP52 World Championship in Porto Cervo, albeit by a slender two points, Sled will be looking to complete their fourth regatta victory in a row.
The team which counts on six-times America’s Cup winning Kiwi Murray Jones and Italian Francesco Bruni as strategist and tactician, won the final event of 2025 and so far remains unbeaten this season. If Okura’s crew could go four-straight they could equal the streak of Quantum Racing ten years ago in 2016.
The Sled team have shown great all-round speed and have consistently sailed smart, minimising risk so far this year. But historically they have always sailed well in uprange winds and bigger waves such as are expected in the Canary Islands’ trade winds zone.
But, as ever, project manager Don Cowie and the entire team take nothing for granted and start each regatta afresh.
“Hopefully that is the light wind regattas done for the year!” grins Cowie before asserting, “ As a new spot for the circuit, Lanzarote levels the playing field a bit, that will make it interesting. The weather studies show between 10 and 18 knots and so hopefully we see that or maybe a bit more.”
Although confidence is high he refuses to consider they have a winning momentum, “Look back and the the worlds was a classic situation for the 52 Super Series right now, Alpha Plus went into the last day with a one point lead and then the Swedish boat Trinity came through as well on the last day, so momentum is a nice thing, but you have to be cautious as you just cannot take it for granted. We take every regatta as they come one by one. The fleet is definitely getting tougher every event. There are several boats can win in Lanzarote and that makes it exciting.”
For racing at a new venue, racing in the open water between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura offshore of Marina Rubicon and Playa Blanca, the teams have all done their background research and weather studies,
“And we have a good bunch of guys in the chase boat to do all the important readings. Now we need to just keep our heads out of the boat and take every day as it comes along.” Concludes Cowie.
Big fleet, anyone’s regatta
Thirteen boats from 11 different nations are mustering in Lanzarote and of them most observers consider any of them could win the regatta. But the stronger breezes might tend to favour the more experienced teams which can count on really solid, mistake free boat handling. Among those could be Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon Aviation – third in Porto Cervo, Ergin Imre’s Provezza, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin’s Paprec who narrowly missed out on the world title at a windy Cascais event last year or indeed newcomers No Way Back, Pieter Heerema’s Dutch flagged team which is comprised of many past Quantum Racing alumni.
For No Way Back the conditions might be a bigger test for Heerema who is new this year to the class but the crew laid the foundations for their season in strong breezes just before Easter in Majorca. And they welcome back Argentinian Olympic bronze medallist Lucas Calabrese as strategist working alongside tactician Terry Hutchinson and Italian navigator Michele Ivaldi.
Back to Zero, Sled are not unbeatable
“Sled are sailing really well.” acknowledges Ivaldi, “They are a team which has been together for a long, long time. Adam Beashel is doing a good job driving the boat and he is putting in the one per cent that makes a difference in a lot of situations. But we don’t think Sled are unbeatable. I honestly think ten boats can win an event. Every time we start a regatta it is back to zero, with no history.”
He reports, “We are back to the original configuration we had in 2021 and the set up that we planned for the season so that is good. Lucas has a very good eye and has a very good relationship with Terry who trusts him 100 per cent. It is a solid pillar to build strategy and tactics on. Lucas and I can have our private conversation between ourselves and then ‘download ‘to Terry what we are seeing and what we think. At the last regatta I was doing strategy and navigation and that really is two full time jobs, so having a dedicated strategist really helps.”
Ivaldi seems to believe there could be more wind than others anticipate, but is looking forward to more demanding, physical, fast and high adrenalin sailing.
“It could be very windy with big waves, maybe not quite as windy and wavy as Cascais but it will be fun racing.”
And he believes they can do much better than the bitterly disappointing seventh at last month’s worlds,
“Our result in Porto Cervo at the worlds does not really reflect how we sailed as we really had the one bad day taking 28 points out of the 30 available. I think that one bad day rather defined the result. But we are a ‘semi-new’ team and we are still learning together, there are manoeuvres and situations that are new and for Pieter it is a learning curve, learning to drive the boat and start the boat in different conditions.
"We don’t have to change a lot as the platform is very solid. We made a few mistakes in our starts and we worked on that, the starts in the light breeze. The level of the class is so high that the magnitude of the changes you have to do to make a difference are very small. We keep working on our solid platform and keep looking for the one per cent that will make the difference of five or six places on the final regatta standings.”
Solo round the world ace goes Grand Prix
The French team on Jean-Luc Petithuguenin’s Paprec have consistently proven good in the stronger winds not least when they nearly won last year’s Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais. They are relishing the opportunities two back-to-back regattas in Lanzarote are offering.
At this event they welcome double Route du Rhum winner, Vendée Globe runner-up and two times La Solitaire du Figaro winner Yoann Richomme as navigator. It will be Richomme’s first experience of crewed grand prix monohull racing at this level. The skipper of the Paprec IMOCA may be a solo specialist but the Southampton, England trained naval architect also loves racing as part of a team.
Stephane Névé, project manager and mainsail trimmer explains, “We like the wind and we hope we can do better again if there is more wind. I think maybe the strong winds remind us of Brittany and Normandy where we are from. We love these conditions when we tend to be fast. We hope to be as fast at least as last year in Cascais.”
He observes, “I think we are good in the winds for, a combination of things. Looking back to Cascais last year we only made one mistake at one upwind mark. We did not break any sails in the whole season. As soon as you lose a kite or miss a gybe or make a mistake in this fleet you are losing. But we have a very good crew and Cedric on the helm is fantastic and that gives us more confidence. Between 20 and 25kts we are good as we showed in the last race in Puerto Portals.”
Meanwhile the mid-point of the Marina Rubicon Lanzarote 52 Super Series Sailing Week also marks with the theoretical mid-point of the five regatta season. Sled start the first of two Lanzarote regattas with a lead of 15 points ahead of Platoon Aviation with Andrea Lacorte’s Alkedo Vitamina in third ten points behind Platoon Aviation.
France’s Paul Meilhat and Portugal’s Mariana Lobato have announced that they are teaming up for an IMOCA campaign for the upcoming inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Atlantic and next year’s around-the-world edition of The Ocean Race.
Skipper Meilhat and co-skipper Lobato made the announcement in Lorient, France on Wednesday and revealed that they will be racing under the banner United by the Ocean.
The pair – who together finished fourth in The Ocean Race 2022-23 – said the new campaign is based around connection, openness and ocean health, and that they were hoping a good performance on the water would help them make a meaningful impact off the water.
“Since the very first sailors, the ocean has been a connector, linking people, places, and cultures together,” said Meilhat, winner of The Ocean Race Europe in 2025. “In many ways, the ocean is the original social network, making trade, the exchange of cultures and ideas, and openness to the world possible,” Meilhat said.
“Today we know the ocean is much more than this. It is our greatest climate regulator, absorbing the majority of the excess heat generated by human activity, and capturing a significant portion of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. A healthy ocean keeps us in balance and is something we can all unite around as it represents our shared future.”
Lobato said she was delighted to be working with Meilhat once again.
“It’s fantastic to be back with Paul and to be preparing for these events in The Ocean Race again,” she said. “Getting to the point where we can launch the campaign with confidence is a big milestone. Today we celebrate this but tomorrow we get back to work to get all the preparations in place. The best way to bring a project like this to the starting line is to get started and take on the challenges one at a time.”
