Canada claims first season win at Rolex Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix
by SailGP 17 Mar 2025 00:50 GMT
March 15-16, 2025
Northstar Canada claimed their inaugural win of the 2025 Season - the first for the team since March 2023 (Season 3) and the first with double Olympic gold medalist Giles Scott as driver. Defeating league heavyweights New Zealand (2nd) and Australia (3rd), today's result makes four different winners in as many events, as competition across the Rolex SailGP Championship heats up.
Celebrating, driver Giles Scott said, "I think we sailed really well all weekend. We got off the water yesterday second overall, and we still felt really frustrated. We put it together today."
With ROCKWOOL Denmark ruled out of the competition due to damage, 11 national teams competed in light but foiling conditions on the Port of Los Angeles. Emirates GBR won fleet race 5 with a convincing lead, while fleet race 6 went the way of Australia, followed by New Zealand in second and Canada in third.
Needing an impressive result in the seventh and final fleet race of the weekend, driver Dylan Fletcher came out firing - leading the sprint to mark one and stretching ahead of the pack to a clean victory in front of cheering fans along the shoreline. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to claim a spot in the Final, with Australia just hanging on in seventh, securing just enough points to scrape into the last race of the day.
Fletcher said, "It's obviously disappointing to miss out on the Final by just one point, but I'm really proud of how the team came out swinging today. It was certainly a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions after we crossed the finish line with the win in that last race. We thought the Americans had done it and they were going to take the Aussies, but they said they stuffed their last tack, which left it open for them. Hats off to the Aussies, they did a great job in that race."
The Final began with yet another flawless start for Peter Burling's Black Foils - winning the sprint to mark one. But a series of errors from the Kiwis opened the door to NorthStar Canada, which pulled away with a dominating lead. Tom Slingsby's Australia struggled from the start, trailing over the line and struggling to stay on the foils. The Canadians clocked the top speed of the day - 51.07 km/h (31.7 mph) - as well as the best fly time (99 percent) in the Final.
With the points tallied, New Zealand moves up to third on the 2025 Season leaderboard (29 points) while Emirates GBR and Australia retain first and second, respectively. Canada moves from sixth to fourth. The U.S. SailGP Team finished ninth overall, picking up their second event point of the season. Reflecting on the first of three home events for the team, U.S. driver Taylor Canfield said, "I think overall it was an amazing event - to be here at a home event and everyone being so pumped to take photos and get introduced to our sport - that's what it's all about."
It was a dominant weekend for the Black Foils, who finished on the podium in five of eight races. It was a welcome turnaround for the team after disappointing results Down Under. New Zealand Driver Peter Burling said, "We're really happy to be back in the Final. It was a really tricky weekend all around, but you know, really pleased with the way the team has been progressing and building - it feels like we're getting better and better every event."
The Rolex SailGP Championship returns in less than one week's time - the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix will unfold over two days of racing (March 22-23, 2025), set in front of the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge. Known for big breeze and tactical racing, San Francisco consistently offers some of the most exciting racing on the Rolex SailGP calendar.
Remaining tickets are available for purchase at SailGP.com/Tickets.