Racing Roundup 23/07/26

SailGP's 13 teams will race in split fleets at this weekend's event in the UK, and for the rest of the 2026 season.

The move, which is likely to cause a split in opinion amongst both sailing fans and the competing teams, comes after the league was forced to adopt the format for the second day in Auckland back in February, following a horrific high-speed crash the previous day between the French and New Zealand boats. That crash hospitalised several sailors with serious injuries and called into question the inherent safety of the global high-performance circuit.

Although the teams subsequently raced a full fleet at events in Sydney, Rio, and New York, a windy forecast for the Halifax, Nova Scotia regatta saw the organisers opt for the two-fleet format.

The move to divide the fleet – although seemingly resisted by SailGP CEO Russell Coutts – makes a lot of sense for the long term, given that the league has recently announced plans to grow to 20 teams over coming seasons.

For Portsmouth, the fleet has been divided into two seeded groups based on results from the most recent event, with racing following an 'ABBA' schedule.

Group A
Los Gallos
Bonds Flying Roos
Black Foils
NorthStar
Red Bull Italy
ROCKWOOL Denmark
Mubadala Brazil

Group B
Artemis SailGP
Explora Swiss
United States SailGP Team
Germany presented by Deutsche Bank
DS Automobiles Team France
Emirates Great Britain

The reigning World Champion, the reigning European Champion, the European runner-up, and the winners of the Sandberg PalmaVela and the SM La Reina Trophy will go head-to-head in one of the most competitive and unpredictable classes of the 44 Copa del Rey Mapfre.

Few classes at the 44 Copa del Rey Mapfre can boast a line-up as impressive as Azulmarino ORC C. World Champions, European Champions and winners of the season’s leading national and international regattas will go head-to-head in the Bay of Palma in what promises to be one of the closest and most unpredictable title battles of the event.

Among the leading contenders are the reigning ORC World Champion, Italy’s Robe da Mat; the reigning European Champion and defending Copa del Rey Mapfre champion, Spain’s Project Work, owned by Antonio Porrés; the European runner-up, Germany’s Early Bird, owned by Hendrik Brandis; the Sandberg PalmaVela winner, Hyatt Hydra Youth, owned by Catalan sailor Óscar Chaves; and the winner of the SM La Reina Trophy, Falapouco, owned by Alicante’s Andrés Manresa.

With a fleet of 23 teams from seven nations, the Bay of Palma will host one of the most evenly matched classes of the regatta from August 1 to 8. The sporting appeal lies not only in the quality of the crews but also in the technical diversity of the fleet. Cape 31s, MAT 11s, Melges 32s, Dufour 40 DKs and the Judel & Vrolijk design that will defend the title all represent very different design concepts, each proven capable of winning at the highest level.

European champion aims to defend title against world champion

Project Work, designed by the renowned German naval architecture studio Judel & Vrolijk, returns to defend the title it claimed at last year’s Copa del Rey Mapfre. The 37-foot yacht from Real Club Marítimo de Santander, owned by Antonio Porrés, will face the reigning World Champion, Italy’s Robe da Mat, owned by Luigi Buzzi, whose MAT 11 dominated this year’s ORC World Championship in Sorrento, Italy.

Another fascinating match-up will see Germany’s Early Bird take on Spain’s Hyatt Hydra Youth. Although the two projects are based on very different design concepts, they have delivered remarkably similar performances. Early Bird races a Cape 31, a design that has established itself as one of the most competitive internationally after finishing runner-up at both the 2025 Copa del Rey Mapfre and the 2026 ORC World Championship. Earlier this season, a Cape 31 also claimed overall victory at the Conde de Godó Trophy in Barcelona with an Italian crew.

Its rival, Hyatt Hydra Youth, is a Melges 32 arriving in Palma after an outstanding season that included third place at the Conde de Godó Trophy and victory at Sandberg PalmaVela, sailed on the very same racecourse that will host the 44 Copa del Rey Mapfre.

Diego Fructuoso, tactician aboard Project Work, believes this year's edition will raise the competitive standard even further: “Last year, with the European Championship title at stake, we already felt the level was exceptionally high. But this year it has gone up another level. The Cape 31s have joined the fleet, Hyatt Hydra Youth arrives after winning PalmaVela, and the new MAT 11 Robe da Mat comes as the reigning World Champion. If the bar was already incredibly high in 2025, the competition will be even stronger this year.”

Falapouco targets another Copa del Rey Mapfre title

Another serious title contender is Falapouco, a Dufour 40 DK owned by Andrés Manresa. The Alicante-based team arrives in Palma after winning the recent SM La Reina Trophy and having already lifted the Copa del Rey Mapfre trophy at the 42nd edition in 2024.

Óscar Chaves, owner of Hyatt Hydra Youth, explained: “This season we've entrusted the sporting management of the project to Ramón Aixemeno. After finishing on the podium at the Conde de Godó Trophy and winning Sandberg PalmaVela, we've strengthened the crew with American sailors from the 49er class and equipped the boat with a new set of sails. We arrive in Palma determined to go head-to-head with the Cape 31s, which are extremely difficult boats for a Melges 32 to beat.”

Chaves added: “We're also committed to developing young talent. We'll field a very young team with enormous potential and great enthusiasm to compete at the highest level at the Copa del Rey Mapfre.”

Female athletes across the SailGP fleet swapped the open water for the simulator deck this week at a full-day women’s performance session at SailGP Technologies in Southampton.

Ahead of this weekend’s Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in nearby Portsmouth, 18 female athletes, including some newly-signed reserve talent, met for a training and development day hosted by SailGP.

The athletes logged practice time in bespoke simulator sessions, led by elite coaches, and individual data analysis across a variety of F50 control roles.

The group also took part in workshops where they fed into a range of areas of focus for the league and women in the sport, and heard a strategic update on women’s performance at SailGP.

SailGP is one of the only professional sports leagues in the world where male and female athletes compete alongside one another on the same teams, in identical equipment.

“Sailing as a whole is always evolving and the growth of our sport comes with innovation, and that’s what’s exciting," said Anna Weis, US SailGP Team grinder. As sailors, we’re always looking to learn the next best thing and continue to push the boundaries.”

Iona Neilson SailGP's Head of Impact said: that the day was a great opportunity to bring the circuit's female athletes together to give them more training and learning opportunities. "It also provided a great opportunity for them to come together and share their experiences,`' she said. "The atmosphere and camaraderie among the group was fantastic.

“It was really interesting to get their input into how we mould and shape the ways in which SailGP can support our female athletes, and it was another stride in us being a gender equitable league.”

The athletes will return to the water when the Rolex SailGP Championship enters its European swing in Portsmouth on Saturday.

Jean-Luc Petithuguenin’s Paprec team, a crew which has built something of a reputation as strong winds specialists, led the Marina Rubicón Lanzarote 52 Super Series Sailing Week after two windy races on Tuesaday's opening day of the circuit’s third regatta of the 2026 season.

The French team, with Vendée Globe runner up Yoann Richomme on board as navigator, topped the regatta standings on Day 1 on tie break, after beating the circuit leaders Sled on the second race when the recently crowned world champions finished a close second behind ‘Les Bleus’. Both teams scored a race win and a second place.

Sled who have long since proven their own credentials in the big breeze, sailed impeccably throughout the first windy race, launching themselves into an early lead by virtue of another mesmerising port tack start which saw them cross the fleet off the line to lead at the top mark by a clear 50 metres.

The French team, led by ocean racing legend Loick Peyron, showed great speed downwind at last year’s world championship regatta in Cascais, Portugal when they only missed the world title on the last day by a tiny margin. Today they were in ‘fast forward’ mode and composed two excellent starts and first beats which were enough to ensure they were top contenders all the way through both muscular races. Both contests saw the biggest number of shredded spinnakers – seven or eight by most accounts – seen for many years.

The opening day conditions – winds to well over 25 knots in the second race – were uncompromising and placed a real premium on safe, composed manoeuvres and perfect crew work. In that respect Paprec and Sled were in a class of their own with no obvious breakdowns and no apparent mistakes. Indeed Paprec’s biggest problem was an electrical issue which meant they raced ‘old school’ with limited instruments.

Ocean racing ace Richomme enthused “I lost my connection to all the electronics before the first race and so sat down and did it with a compass, old school.”

He grinned, “It was an amazing day. We had two beautiful starts and Loick Peyron was amazing as tactician he weaved us through the holes in the wind and through the fleet. It was incredible. The first thing we do have is speed downwind. We have great speed and good manoeuvres and upwind we managed to pull it off quite nicely. We did not break anything, we did not make any mistakes. We saw so many spinnakers breaking and we had some safe calls and that was the way to go today.”

The French team remained the most consistent performers and extended their lead on Wednesday's second day to lead the regatta by two clear points after four races.

In winds which again topped 25 knots at times and which saw big shifts in direction at the windward top turns, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin’s crew won the first race of the day and then pipped Vayu on the finish line of the second for a fourth place.

Paprec moved clear of second-placed Sled who suffered their first and only problem of the event so far when they trawled a spinnaker on approach to the leeward gate, ending up sixth.

The top scoring boat of the second day was the Hong Kong team on Alpha Plus. Shawn and Tina Kang’s crew sailed to a pair of well earned, hard won second places to strengthen their hold on third place overall, five points up on Andrea Lacorte’s Alkedo Vitamina which was over the start line in the second race but battled back to a remarkable third position.

Provezza and Platoon Aviation led the first race at the top mark but with big shifts and a knot of current the laylines changed suddenly. Platoon Aviation had to bail out at the last second to avoid hitting the mark. Provezza rounded first and slingshot away from the top mark under spinnaker. But, suddenly, the Turkish flagged team lost their kite, letting the hard driving French through into the lead, which they very quickly grew to over 400 metres by the finish.

Platoon Aviation made the best start at the pin end of the second race, Paprec mistiming their final approach and having to shoot the buoy. Harm Müller-Spreer’s German crew streaked into a big lead, but that very quickly evaporated when their kite exploded again. This time Sled were best placed to take up the running, going on to their second race win of the event which reaches its midpoint Thursday, also the theoretical midway point of the 2026 season.

Leaderboard after four races

1. Paprec (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 2+1+1+4 = 8 

2. Sled, Takashi Okura, 1+2+6+1 = 10 

3. Alpha + (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 3+8+2+2 = 15 

4. Alkedo Vitamina (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 7+3+3+3 = 16 

5. No Way Back (NED), Pieter Heerema, 5+7+5+9 = 26 

6. Platoon Aviation (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 6+5+9+6 = 26 

7. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 4+9+8+10 = 31

8. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft Family, 9+6+11+5 = 31

9. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 11+12+4+7 = 34 

10. Trinity Racing (SWE), Joakim Sundberg, 12+4+10+8 = 34 

11. Crioula (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 14(DNS)+11+7+11 = 43 

12. Teasing Machine (FRA), Eric de Turckheim, 10+10+14(DNF)+12 = 46

13. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 8+13+14(DNS)+14(DNS) = 49