Emirates GBR Wins SailGP Sydney; USA Suffers Damage
Thousands of fans crowded Sydney’s waterways and land-based vantage points as SailGP’s expanded fleet of 12 international foiling catamarans fought it out tooth and nail, much to the delight of race organizers and fans alike. Emirates GBR won the event with consistent finishes in all seven fleet races, including two first-place finishes and a nail-biting victory in the three-boat final against Australia and Canada. Crowd favorite Team Australia incurred a pre-start penalty, which put the Aussie boat behind the eight ball from the start of the race. That penalty proved too much to overcome.
But all the action was not confined to the three leading contenders. There was the little matter of Team USA capsizing while being towed to the racecourse on Practice Day 1.
League co-founder and SailGP CEO Russell Coutts unleashed some uncharacteristic fireworks directed at the US team with what could be construed as an ultimatum to improve the quality of their on-water performance. In his pre-race summary, the stone-faced Coutts said he was “incredibly disappointed” in the US team’s performance in Auckland and suggested they might have to look at making changes if Sydney didn’t go any better.
“They can’t blame their newness in the boats any more — they’ve had a lot more time than teams like Red Bull Italy and Mubadala Brazil, which beat them in Auckland,” Coutts said.
“We have seen them on the podium twice, but both times it was in non-foiling conditions and with a four-person crew configuration. There’s clearly a massive gap between them and the top teams in foiling conditions and it’s looking like we’ll have foiling conditions this weekend … and we have Los Angeles and San Francisco coming up next.
“If this weekend doesn’t produce a better result they’ll need to put their egos aside and start thinking of bringing some of the incredible, young US talent into their line-up — great young sailors like Harry Melges, Riley Gibbs or Richard Didham, who all performed with distinction in the recent Moth World Championships in Auckland.”
The US boat’s capsize as it was being towed onto the racecourse for practice brought home Coutts’s point in dramatic fashion. The wing was damaged by a crew error and could not be repaired in time to compete. The top of the vessel’s wing sail was damaged, and with such a short time frame before racing, the team were unable to get the boat back into race shape. “The incident that occurred on our way to practice racing yesterday has left the team in a very difficult position,” said US SailGP Team chief executive and strategist Mike Buckley.
It’s the second time in as many seasons that the US team have been forced out of an event due to capsizing their boat — they went through the same situation in Bermuda last May. SailGP data analyst David Rey said the cause of the capsize in Sydney was very similar to the incident in Bermuda, with a crew member pushing a button to invert the wing, turning it against the wind.
SailGP Sydney was the second regatta featuring the new T-shaped foil design. This revolutionary new addition will result in faster speeds and better control. After nearly two years of rigorous testing, SailGP has rolled out its new high-speed titanium T-foils across the league’s international F50 fleet.
Point standings after this third event in the 2025 season are: GBR 27; Australia 24; Spain and New Zealand 20.
From here, the high-flying fleet will move to Los Angeles on March 16–17 and to San Francisco March 23–24. The circuit consists of a total of 14 regattas held in spectacular venues including Rio de Janeiro, Geneva and Cadiz. League principal Russell Coutts has been a vociferous cheerleader for the circuit since its inception. He told me, “This thing is just going to get bigger and better, with more teams each year and more fans being exposed to the teams and their personalities.”
Tickets for the upcoming US leg of SailGP can be purchased by visiting the SailGP website www.SailGP.com.