Five events down and with eight still to go, the rest of SailGP Season 5 is shaping up for a thrilling run-in to the Season Grand Final in Abu Dhabi this November. The top teams will have their eyes firmly fixed on a spot in the million-dollar final, while lower down the results table some other teams find themselves on a quest for redemption as they try to claw their way back to credibility over the rest of the season.
Top Tier: The Heavy Hitters
So far this season the top six teams have set the standard for the fleet. Leading the pack is Australia with 39 points, a mere point ahead of Great Britain (38 points) and Spain (36 points). Then you've got New Zealand (35 points), Canada (34 points), and France (28 points) all hot on their heels. The fact that all of the top five teams have won an event is a clear indication of just how competitive the top tier of SailGP has become.
Let’s talk about Australia. The Flying Roos are still top dogs, but Tom Slingsby’s team have not been able to dominate events the way they have in previous seasons. They sit atop the table after five events but their shocking wing collapse in San Francisco has the potential to be a massive setback if repairs prove impossible in time for the next event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in April.
Dylan Fletcher’s Great Britain crew exploded into Season 5 all guns blazing. A second in Dubai, and a third in Auckland, were followed up by an event win in Sydney. This impressive trio of results saw them top the leaderboard by a healthy margin and even a fourth in Los Angeles couldn’t knock them off the top. However San Francisco was a regatta to forget for Fletcher and Co. who turned in a misfiring performance that opened the door for the Aussies to grab first from them – albeit by just one point. Second at this stage is not such a bad place to be but Fletcher will know he needs to steady the ship – or perhaps the crew’s collective nerves – with a good result in Rio next month.
Season 4 winners Spain have been a bit under the radar so far this season. A fourth in Dubai and a second in Auckland were followed up with a seventh in Sydney and a fifth in Los Angeles. However, their smash and grab victory in San Francisco made it crystal clear that they are serious about defending their title. Their strategy is on point, and they’re showing the kind of consistency that makes them a real contender again this season. It’s worth noting here the two Olympic pairings within the Spanish line up – helmsman Diego Botin and Florian Trittel won 49er gold together at the Paris 2024 Olympics while tactician / grinder Joan Cardona, bronze medallist in the Finn at Tokyo 2020, has partnered up with strategist Nicole van der Velden for a tilt at representing Spain at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles – adding a level of intuitive understanding that can surely only enhance the speed and accuracy of the communication aboard the Spanish F50.
The New Zealand team's season has been a tale of contrasting performances, with their potential often undermined by inconsistency. Peter Burling’s crew started the season strongly with a win in Dubai. They followed that up with a fourth in Auckland and an uncharacteristic eighth in Sydney, before defying their critics with a second in Los Angeles, and a fifth in San Francisco.
That sees them sit in fourth overall after five events. Not where they would aspire to be perhaps but only a fool would consider writing New Zealand off as a championship contender just yet. Sitting just off the podium is not such a bad place to be for a team that has had to bed in a new flight controller for Season 5 after Andy Maloney left to join Martine Grael’s new Brazilian crew. There has been plenty of pressure on the incoming Leo Tasahaki who joined the Kiwi squad with big boots to fill, but we can rest assured that when the New Zealand crew finally click back into top form the Black Foils will be right there amongst the title contenders.
Canada got off to a rocky start to their first season with new skipper Gilles Scott at the wheel. After a sixth in Dubai, they were forced out of contention in Auckland, where they finished tenth following a nasty day one injury to flight controller Billy Gooderham. Scott’s squad bounced back impressively though, with a second in Sydney, an event win in Los Angeles, and another second in San Francisco. That leaves them in fifth overall and within striking range of a podium place. Watching them race on the first day in San Francisco I was impressed how accurately the Canadians were sailing. Tack and gybes looked crisp and assured and their fly time and straight-line speed notable – all of which is a testimony to how well Scott has gelled with the sailing styles Gooderham and wing trimmer Paul Campbell-James. I get the sense that there’s plenty more to come from the Canadians, who are already very much amongst the title contenders.
France did not race the first two events of Season 5. They missed Sydney because their ‘new’ F50 (based on Emirates Team New Zealand’s 35th America’s Cup-winning AC50 from Bermuda in 2017) was not ready, and could not take part in Auckland because of problems with their wingsail. The team received compensatory points for their absence from the two regattas. Perhaps because of having missed out on at least six days of sailing compared to the other teams, Quentin Delapierre’s squad could only manage a pair of sixth places in Sydney and Los Angeles. However they opened the San Francisco event with a storming win in the first race and despite an up and down performance over the rest of the event were able to squeeze into the San Francisco final after Australia’s catastrophic wing failure forced them out. A third place in that final sees them in sixth place overall – eight points off the podium. If they can find some consistency to go along with their race-winning flashes of brilliance then we can expect the French to be contenders for both event wins and a spot in the season final.
Lower Tier: The Stragglers
Ten points adrift of France, Switzerland, on 18 points, sit in seventh overall. The Swiss team finished bottom of the table in Season 4, forcing a rethink from skipper Sébastien Schneiter who brought in Alinghi Red Bull Racing America's Cup sailors Arnaud Psarofaghis and Bryan Mettraux as wing trimmer and flight controller, respectively. Whilst still very far from the finished product, to me the Swiss look much improved this season.
Although their 9,7,5,10,6 event scoreline is less than stellar they have proved on more than one occasion that they are capable of winning races. I'm backing them to improve event by event, and although I don't see them challenging for a grand final spot, I do think they will finish season looking more like a tier one than a tier two team.
Five points back is Italy. It is fair to say that Ruggero Tita's crew have not set the world on fire in their first season in SailGP. However, an 11,6,9,8,8 scoreline over the first five events leaves them in eighth overall – and that's well ahead of teams with many more events under their belts like USA and Germany who both joined SailGP in Season 4.
A Nacra 17 double Olympic gold medallist, Tita is a generational sailing talent and is backed up by the considerable experience of Kyle Langford (previously Tom Slingsby's wing trimmer) and fellow Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli America's Cup veteran Andrea Tesei on flight control – to say nothing of the experience of team boss Jimmy Spithill and coach Philippe Presti. All of which gives me confidence that this team will unlock at some point the secrets of their F50 and start to feature at the front of the fleet more often over the rest of the season.
Four points back from the Italians is Denmark. After a strong performance in Season 4 where they finished fourth overall the Danes got off to a lacklustre 7,5,4 start to this season. They then plummeted down the rankings when they badly damaged their boat in Los Angeles, missing out on points-scoring opportunities there and in San Francisco a week later. To make things worse they also received eight season penalty points for causing the damage when they hit a leeward gate mark with their port foil tip. All that leaves them in ninth place overall with nine points and with an Everest-sized mountain to climb over the rest of the season. In San Francisco I chatted to skipper Nicolai Sehested – who had immediately taken responsibility for causing the damaging collision – and he told me that, with a spot in the grand final now pretty much an impossibility, the team would need to find a way to 'change the narrative'. From now now on, he told me, the Danes would be treating every event as if it were the million dollar grand final. Whatever that means, I think we can confidently expect fireworks when the Danish boat gets back on the water.
The bottom three teams have all also received penalty points for self-inflicted damage to their boats. After a practice day collision in Sydney, Brazil and Germany received four and 12 season penalty points respectively. The Brazilians sit in tenth on two points and Germany languish in last place on four points. Sandwiched between them in eleventh are the Americans who were handed eight season penalty points for destroying their wing in a capsize while towing out on the practice day in Sydney.
Eric Heil’s German team have been in SailGP since the beginning of Season 4, while the USA crew led by strategist Mike Buckley and helmsman Taylor Canfield took over halfway through that season. Based on the cold hard facts of the points table, both look to have been outclassed so far this season by newcomers Italy and Martine Grael's Brazil, both of whom have brought in seasoned SailGP veterans to their sailing line-up – a strategy many pundits and a multitude of US sailing fans on social media have suggested the Americans should also adopt.
It's easy to see why the fans are saying that. Other than flight controller Hans Henken, an 49er Olympic bronze medallist at Paris 2024 and a past US team flight controller with Jimmy Spithill, the American line-up looks notably lacking in foiling and ultra-high performance sailing experience. However Buckley and Canfield remain opposed to any idea of bringing in fresh blood and say they are committed to developing an all-American SailGP team. Only time will tell if they succeed, but for me, it's an ego-fuelled fantasy to believe you can aspire to compete with the best high-performance foiling sailors on the planet by trying to teach yourself on the job. Despite a podium finish in the light airs Season 5 opening event in Dubai, the Americans have had a disastrous run of results and now sit in eleventh, tied on points with tenth place Brazil.
The Brazil team is led by double Olympic gold medallist Martine Grael –the first female skipper in SailGP – who has assembled a top flight afterguard around her, featuring Paul Goodison as strategist, Leigh McMillan as wing trimmer, and ex-Black Foils sailor Andy Maloney on flight control. Although the results might not show it this team looks to be making steady progress and is growing in confidence. Grael learned the hard way how costly any boat-on-boat contact can be – after a practice day collision with the Germans cost her eight season penalty points – and she is unlikely to put herself in that position again. I predict the Brazil team will work its way up the rankings and end up with a respectable first season position. Don't be surprised if along the way they win a race or two – and perhaps even sneak into an event final.
Germany received the heaviest penalty for causing the practice day collision with Brazil and penalised with 12 season penalty points. That along with a 8,8,11,10,7 score line so far sees them firmly bottom of the table with minus one points. Whether the Germans will find a way to radically transform their performance is hard to say. For now the task is to avoid any more collisions and to try to string together a series of event results that can elevate them out of last place. It's a big ask but there are plenty of events still to go – including one in Sassnitz, Germany, where Heil and his crew will hope to get the home fans cheering.
Looking Ahead: Battle Lines Drawn Throughout the Fleet
As we head into Rio, the leaderboard tells a clear story. The top six teams have gapped away from the pack, but with eight events still to go, there’s still plenty of racing left, and we’re far from knowing who will come out on top at the end of. the year. We can confidently expect the top group to keep the scrap of the podium positions tight, while those in the bottom half the motivation is finding a way to break through into the top tier. A little like in Formula 1, where the top few teams are the ones fighting it out for the championship titles and drawing all the headlines, the battles among lower ranking teams can prove to be equally compelling. All of which means we are likely to be in for some fascinating action as the rest of Season 5 unfolds.
I for one, can’t wait to see how it all plays out.
Justin Chisholm
