Here's my alphabetical team-by-team run through of the Season 6 lineup and my best guess assessment of their potential performances over the coming year.
Artemis Racing (SWE)
The new Swedish syndicate are the new kids on the block from a team perspective but Australian skipper Nathan Outteridge is a generational foiling talent who has hand-picked a team brimming with talent and experience.
Outteridge has been involved in SailGP since its inception and has two Moth World Championship titles and 49er Olympic gold and silver medals to his name, to say nothing of an America’s Cup win as helmsman with Emirates Team New Zealand in 2024.
Having been relegated to the periphery of SailGP over recent seasons since the demise of his SailGP Japan outfit, Outteridge lobbied Swedish billionaire businessman and keen yacht racer Torbjörn Törnqvist – for whom he previously steered two America’s Cup campaigns as Artemis Racing – to put up the money for a brand new SailGP syndicate.
With Artemis Technologies CEO and double Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy as CEO, and two powerhouse signings in British wing trimmer Chris Draper from the BONDS Flying Roos, and New Zealand flight controller Andy Maloney from Mubadala Brazil – along with experienced strategist Julia Gross (SWE) (ex-Red Bull-Italy and a graduate from the Swedish Challenge team in the Puig Women’s America’s Cup), and grinders Brad Farrand (NZL) (also from Red Bull Italy), and Julius Hallström (SWE) (previously with the Danish ROCKWOOL Racing) – I can confidently predict a strong start to Season 6 in Perth.
Black Foils (NZL)
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s New Zealand SailGP team finished Season 5 with a third place in the Grand Final in Abu Dhabi – a result that many SailGP teams would give their eyeteeth for, but a crushing disappointment for the Kiwi lineup.
Whilst there is no official crew list for the Black Foils for Season 6 at this stage, we are not expecting any major changes, either to the speed loop at the back of the boat – where Burling is backed up by his 49er Olympic triple medal and three-time America’s Cup sailing partner Blair Tuke on wing trim, flight controller Leo Takahashi (NZL) (who has come on leaps and bounds over Season 5), and strategist Liv Mackay (NZL) – or to the powerful grinding team that includes Kiwis Marcus Hansen and Louis Sinclair.
I would expect the Black Foils to come out strong in Season 6 and to benefit from having stayed away from the transfer market and therefore able to field a tight-knit lineup right from the very first event.
BONDS Flying Roos (AUS)
Indisputably the most successful team in SailGP history, Tom Slingsby’s Australian setup has benefitted greatly from maintaining a predominantly consistent lineup over the last five seasons. That said, the Season 5 crew finished second in the Abu Dhabi Grand Final last November, only after an up-and-down season that left them scrabbling to qualify for the end-of-season three-way shootout against the Kiwis and the British.
Slingsby has made just one change to the crew for Season 6, after luring fellow countryman wing trimmer Iain Jensen away from the Season 5 Championship-winning Emirates Team GBR, to replace the outgoing Chris Draper to Artemis. It could be seen as a like-for-like swap but there’s something about the potential chemistry between Jensen’s quiet temperament as a foil for the volatility of Slingsby and his infamous moments of ‘red mist’ that bodes well for this new partnership over the coming season.
Jensen’s arrival sees him join long-time Roos flight controller and tactician Jason Waterhouse, strategists Natasha Bryant and Nina Curtis, and grinders Kinley Fowler and Sam Newton to complete an all-Australian complement for Season 6.
I am expecting a less erratic scoreline for the BONDS Flying Roos across the coming season and only a fool would leave them out of a list of favourites to make the end-of-season Grand Final yet again. And surely nobody will be more motivated than Slingsby to take first blood in Season 6 with a win on home country waters in Perth.
Emirates GBR
Dylan Fletcher’s British team finished Season 5 on top of the world after closing out a year of impressive performances with a spectacular win in the thrilling three-way Grand Final against the Kiwis and the Australians.
Now however comes the oh so tricky second album scenario as the Brits attempt to repeat that success in Season 6. Happily for Fletcher he has been able to find the perfect replacement for the departure of the super-talented Iain Jensen to the Australians. That comes in the form of his 49er Olympic gold medal-winning partner Stuart Bithell, who joins the British champions from Germany by Deutsche Bank as wing trimmer.
Swapping wing trimmers is never easy, but I’m expecting that both Bithell’s existing synchronistic relationship with Fletcher, and his British Sailing Team Olympic camaraderie with strategist Hannah Mills (yachting’s most successful female Olympian with a silver and two golds in the women’s 470 class) will enable him to slot into the lineup almost seamlessly.
Otherwise, the well-gelled British crew remains unchanged, with Luke Parkinson continuing as flight controller, alongside the powerhouse grinding pairing of Neil Hunter and Nick Hutton.
I’m expecting the Brits to come out all guns blazing in Perth and I have them among the favourites once more to make the Grand Final at the end of Season 6.
‘Les Bleus’ (FRA)
Quentin Delapierre’s French squad finished Season 5 in a creditable fifth place after a year of up-and-down performances that began with them missing the opening two events as they waited for the completion of their ‘new’ F50 (previously used by Emirates Team New Zealand to win the 35th America’s Cup in 2017). A 6, 6, 3, 10, 1, 6, 7, 6, 3 scoreline followed – which predictably averages out to fifth.
Perhaps surprising then that for Season 6 the team remains largely unchanged, with the returns of Manon Audinet (FRA) as strategist, Jason Saunders (NZL) on flight control, and grinders Timothé Lapauw (FRA) and Olivier Herlédant (FRA). Boosting the lineup are British wing trimmer Leigh MacMillan (who previously held the role in Season 1 and now replaces the outgoing Kevin Peponnet to the Germans) and grinder Bruno Mourniac (FRA).
While fifth for the season is far from a bad result, this is a team of sailors that clearly want much more for themselves. What then can we expect from the French during Season 6? Well perhaps MacMillan’s arrival will help them be more consistent across the whole range of conditions – rather than just excelling in the breeze?
Off the boat, the appointment of super-coach Philippe Presti as CEO could well bring the focus on consistent performance that the Delapierre and Co. have been lacking so far. If Perth delivers breezy conditions I’m expecting a much improved performance from Les Bleus in Season 6 – beginning with qualifying for the final at the first event in Perth.
Germany by Deutsche Bank
Erik Heil’s German team may have finished Season 5 down in ninth place, but there was plenty to celebrate in a year that saw them become arguably the most improved team on the circuit. After languishing at the back of the pack throughout Season 4, in 2025 the Germans began to show more than just sporadic flashes of brilliance around the racecourse and were rewarded with an event win in Geneva and a third place in Cadiz.
Just how well the Germans will be able to build on that momentum will depend significantly on how well they bed in their new wing trimmer Kevin Peponnet (FRA) who joins the team after the departure of Britain’s Stuart Bithell to join his countrymen at Season 5 champions Emirates GBR.
Otherwise, the German lineup remains unchanged, with James Wierzbowski (AUS) on flight control, German 49er campaigner Anna Barth as strategist, and grinders Will Tiller (NZL), Felix van den Hövel (GER), and Jonathan Knottnerus-Meyer (GER).
Can the Germans continue their steady improvement during Season 6? Only time will tell.
‘Los Gallos’ (ESP)
Diego Botin’s Spanish Los Gallos syndicate may have ended Season 5 disappointed to have to settle for fourth overall after being fended off from securing a Grand Final berth by the wily Tom Slingsby who targeted the Spanish well enough in the Abu Dhabi fleet racing to snuff out their hopes of getting a shot at defending their Season 4 championship title. However, their 2025 season performance ably demonstrated that they are very much a top-flight team and that the Season 4 victory was no flash in the pan.
The Spanish crew will be rueing a lacklustre performance in Europe during Season 5 where they failed to capitalise on back-to-back event wins in San Francisco and New York. Some of that can be attributed to the absence of their grinder / tactician Joan Cardona – a bronze medallist in the Finn class at the 2020 Olympic Games – as well as a temporary general lack of cohesion in the squad at events like their home regatta in Cádiz, Spain.
There has been no news so far about any changes to the Spanish squad for 2026 – where Botin on the wheel is backed by his Olympic 49er 2024 Olympic gold medal-winning crew Florian Trittel on wing trim, and Olympic Laser campaigner Joel Rodriguez as flight controller, with Nicole van der Velden (partnered with Joan Cardona in the Nacra 17 campaigning for Los Angeles 2028) as strategist, plus the formidable grinding team of Cardona and Portugal’s Bernardo Freitas.
Going into the new season with an unchanged, close-knit and top-performing squad should enable the Spanish to continue to challenge at the top of the leaderboard over the coming season.
Mubadala Brazil
Despite managing to finish one place off the absolute bottom of the standings in Season 5, Martine Grael’s Mubadala Brazil squad undoubtedly have the biggest mountain to climb in the coming season. Other than the one event in which things went their way – in New York when they won a race and finished in fourth overall – the Brazilians have singularly failed to impress.
No surprise then that two of their top-name signings – British wing trimmer Leigh MacMillan and Kiwi flight controller Andy Maloney – have both jumped ship during the winter break (with MacMillan rejoining the French team and Maloney swapping into the BONDS Flying Roos). Where that leaves strategist Paul Goodison is unknown but it seems unlikely that he will be wearing green and yellow in Season 6.
The only positive to salvage from the desperate situation that Grael, a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the 49erFX class, finds herself in, is that the only way is up from here. Given that there’s no news at this stage on Brazil’s sailing team lineup for Season 6, it’s impossible to make a prediction about their performance at the opening event. What I will say is that, for all sorts of reasons, I hope Grael manages to turn things around. One thing is for sure, she will begin Season 6 knowing a lot more about driving an F50 than she did a year ago, and hopefully she can hand-pick a team that can evolve with her over the coming season.
‘NorthStar’ (CAN)
If Giles Scott’s Canadian outfit have spent the winter break disappointed in their sixth-place finish in the Season 5 standings it will surely only be because of the oh so promising three-event streak of success they had early in 2025 when they finished second in Sydney, first in Los Angeles, and second in San Francisco.
That impressive three-podium result run came after a mid-fleet performance in the season opener in Dubai and crashing out of the Auckland event after a scary injury to their flight controller Billy Gooderham. The way they bounced back was truly inspiring and had the team and Canadian fans everywhere dreaming of a Season 6 Grand Final appearance.
It was not to be, however, after a 7,8,8,10,9,10 string of results followed, before Scott & Co. gave themselves a late-season consolation prize with a fourth place finish in the final Abu Dhabi event.
The team has made virtually no changes to the sailing team for 2026 – other than the introduction of Kiwi sailor Alex Sinclair into the grinding team alongside Canadians Tom Ramshaw and Tim Hornsby (who also takes on a role as the team’s technical director for Season 6) and the recruitment of Swiss all-rounder Nicholas Rolaz (ex-Alinghi Red Bull Racing America’s Cup team) as a reserve sailor. Meanwhile, the Canadian speed loop remains unchanged, with Scott backed up by British wing-trimmer Paul Campbell-James, alongside Canadians Gooderham on flight control, and strategists Annie Haegar and Georgia Lewin LaFrance.
According to what Scott told me recently, the team has been working hard to regroup over the winter break and has invested in extra resources around the data analysis area. At the end of the day, sixth in Season 5 is far from a disastrous result, and I’m predicting that a rejuvenated Canadian squad will start Season 6 strongly with an appearance in the three-way final race at the first event in Australia.
Red Bull Italy
Team CEO Jimmy Spithill laid down a marker of intent at the end of 2025 by fielding new recruit Phil Robertson (NZL) as driver for the final event in Abu Dhabi. The move saw Robertson replace Italian double Olympic gold medallist Ruggero Tita and came after a disappointing first season for Spithill leading the new Italian outfit.
The substitution proved to be transformative with Robertson guiding the Italian F50 to a second place overall finish in Abu Dhabi and perhaps sealing the fate of the now ‘reserve driver’ Tita. Also joining the Italian lineup as strategist – replacing the outgoing Julia Gross to Artemis – is 49erFX Olympic campaigner Jana Germani – along with Australian gold and silver 470 medallist Will Ryan as a grinder (replacing the outgoing Alex Sinclair to NorthStar). Australian Kyle Langford stays on as wing trimmer alongside Luna Rossa America’s Cup sailor Andrea Tesei on flight control.
It is good to see Robertson return to SailGP after a season’s absence and there is nobody better at galvanising an F50 crew than him. We can surely hope – or even expect – great things of the new-look Italian squad during Season 6 and I would not be surprised to see Robertson deliver a race win or two at the opening event in Perth.
ROCKWOOL Racing (DEN)
Fans of Nicolai Sehested’s Danish team – and I count myself as one – had high hopes that Season 5 was going to be the breakthrough year which saw the Danes graduate to become a serious Grand Final contender. The team got off to a solid start with a 6,5,4 scoreline in the opening three events, but then a lapse of concentration on a leeward mark rounding during the Los Angeles regatta resulted in catastrophic damage to the Danish F50’s port foil and casing. That damage also prevented the Danes from racing in San Francisco a week later and with no points from two events their overall season title hopes were effectively crushed.
Nevertheless, after a string of so-so performances during the mid-season, Sehested rallied his troops to a strong finish, with a fourth place in Cádiz (that should really have been an event final appearance), before dominating the fleet racing in Abu Dhabi to claim their first event win in SailGP.
That’s a good springboard for a strong start to Season 6, when Sehested will field a slightly modified lineup that sees long-time flight controller Rasmus Køstner (DEN) leave to join the Brazil team and be replaced by British sailor Ed Powys – who steps up from a grinding role to fly the boat. Sehested’s good friend Tom Johnson (DEN/AUS) continues as wing trimmer, alongside strategist pairing Anne-Marie Rindom (NED) – a bronze and gold Laser Radial Olympic medallist – and 49erFX Olympic bronze medallist Katja Salskov-Iversen (DEN). Meanwhile, Hans-Christian Rosendahl (DEN) returns from long-term injury to join Australian Luke Payne on the grinding pedestals.
As one of the longest-running teams in SailGP I’m expecting the Danish to step things up in Season 6 and for their true potential to finally shine through. Look for race wins and perhaps – maybe, just maybe – an event final appearance in Perth when Season 6 begins in a couple of weeks’ time.
Switzerland
Although it was only twice during Season 5 that Sébastien Schneiter’s Swiss crew managed to confound the form guide with event final appearances, on both those two occasions – in Portsmouth, England and at their home event on Lake Geneva – where they finished third, they looked well-capable of hanging with the top teams when the pressure was on.
If this has raised hope amongst the team for a better overall result in Season 6 than last year’s eighth place then the Swiss sailors will know that they need to smooth out the arc of their results by delivering more consistent performances over the year. Good news then, perhaps, that the sailing team remains unchanged for the new year ahead. Backing up Schneiter is the Alinghi Red Bull Racing America’s Cup pairing Arnaud Psarofaghis and Bryan Mettraux on wing trim and flight control respectively, alongside two-time Olympian Maud Jayet (SUI) as strategist. Once again delivering the power to the Swiss F50 are British America’s Cup finalist Matt Gotrel and SailGP Season 4 winner, Stewart Dodson (NZL).
I’m expecting top-six results and better over Season 6 – beginning with a top five performance in Perth at event one.
United States
It’s no secret that the American team’s first season since the buyout by an investment group led by Ryan and Margaret McKillen and top-flight sailor Mike Buckley has been a turbulent one, marred significantly by self-inflicted injuries like capsizing on the way to the start line and reckless high-speed collisions. The US crew accumulated more penalty points than anyone else during 2025 – after being docked 24 event points and 18 overall season points for incidents on the water.
That said, even if the results may not have clearly demonstrated it, my impression is that the team has shown some promising signs of improvement over the season. To my eye, the introduction of American Magic America’s Cup sailors Michael Menninger on wing trim and Andrew Campbell as strategist, alongside their AC teammate Hans Henken (a 49er bronze medallist for the USA at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games) on flight control, and American grinders Anna Weiss, Mac Agnese, and Peter Kinney, has appeared to result in fewer mistakes and more coherent sailing.
There has been no news about the potential lineup for 2026. However, the recruitment of American Magic youth team helmsman Harry Melges has put the future of existing driver, multiple match racing world champion Taylor Canfield (USA), in doubt. A great deal rides on whether Canfield or Melges is named as 2026 helmsman. A second season under Canfield is likely to yield slow improvement (the Americans finished fifth at the final event of Season 5 in Abu Dhabi), whereas the introduction of Melges into the mix seems likely to offer the best chance of a step-change in performance. For now, though, we will just have to wait and see.
