Please select your home edition
Edition
Sea Sure 2025

Debriefing the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix, 2028 Vendee Globe news, GL52s

by David Schmidt 25 Mar 15:00 GMT March 25, 2025
Spain SailGP Team helmed by Diego Botin celebrate on stage with Barons De Rothschild Champagne after they win the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix © Jed Jacobsohn for SailGP

One of the coolest aspects of SailGP's fifth season of racing has been the rotating cast of characters who have been reaching the podium's top step. Season 5 kicked off in Dubai in November, with the New Zealand SailGP Team taking top honors. This was followed in January in Auckland, where the Australia SailGP Team proved themselves to be the fastest gun. Then, in February in Sydney, it was Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team's turn on top, followed in early March by the Canadian-flagged NorthStar SailGP's win in Los Angeles.

This past weekend in San Francisco it was the Spain SailGP Team's time to shine, taking two bullets in the event's seven fleet races and winning the all-important Final.

For Spain, this win hits a bit of a historical harmonic, as the team won SailGP's Season 4 championship title on these same waters last July.

"It feels amazing to win," said Spain's strategist, Nicole van der Velden, in a SailGP communication. "We were feeling quite confident with how we were sailing and how we were starting, so super happy to finish it off well in the Final. It's great to get two-for-two in San Francisco. Now, a little bit of celebration and back to focus for the next event."

Spain was joined on the winner's podium of the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix by the NorthStar SailGP and the France SailGP teams, both of whom sailed great regattas and earned at least one bullet apiece (the Canadians claimed two wins).

While podium rotation can be seen as a strong sign that the league is maturing and that all teams are becoming more competitive (case-in-point: the Switzerland SailGP Team won Fleet Race 5), it's important to note that the Australia SailGP Team suffered a dismasting just before the start of the final fleet race.

"We were coming into the start, we were looking for a gap and we realized there wasn't going to be one, so we conceded and turned up," said Slingsby in an official SailGP report. "I don't really know what happened, but my guess is that the wing failed right at that moment that we turned up sharply.

"We've just got to go and look at all the camera angles," Slingsby continued. "It was obviously close with the boats, but we need to determine if it was a wing failure or something else at play—did we make an error?"

The team was fortunate that no one was hurt, but their broken wing robbed the Aussies of the chance to earn points in Fleet Race 7 and meant that they were out of the Final, despite posting solid results in the first six races (this included two second-place finishes and a pair of third-place finishes).

While this was obviously sour news for skipper Tom Slingsby and his teammates, other teams—including the French, the Swiss, the Italians, and the Brazilians—posted strong results and earned important leaderboard points.

Unfortunately for American interests, the United States SailGP Team continued to struggle on San Francisco Bay. The team's best results from the weekend were an eighth-place finish in Fleet Race 6, plus a pair of ninth-place finishes in Fleet Races 3 and 4, and the team finish the event in last place.

"We didn't get the result we wanted here," said Hans Henken, the American team's flight controller. "We put in a lot of work leading into San Francisco-a lot of those things are going on behind the scenes but the results don't show it. Obviously, we need to go back and put more work into it. The story is not over, we're continuing to push really hard."

After five Season 5 events, the Australia SailGP Team is currently topping the leaderboard with 39 points, closely followed by the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team (38 points) and the Spain SailGP Team (36 points). The fourth-place New Zealand SailGP Team (35 points) is also putting pressure on the leaders, as are the Canadians (34 points).

The next SailGP event, the Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix, is set to unfurl on the waters off of Rio de Janeiro from May 3-4, followed about a month later by the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix (June 7-8).

Then, the league will jump the Pond with events in the UK (July 19-20), Germany (August 16-17), France (September 12-13), Switzerland (September 20-21), and Spain (October 4-5), before returning to the Middle East for the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2025 Season Grand Final (November 29-30).

So, with a tightly packed leaderboard and eight more events set to unfurl this season, count on plenty of tight racing to come as the league foils their way toward the Season 5 Grand Final.

Meanwhile, the dust has barely settled on the 2024-2025 Vendée Globe, but contenders are already emerging for the 2028-2029 edition of this storied singlehanded nonstop circumnavigation race.

Last week news broke that skipper Francesca Clapcich, who is sponsored by 11th Hour Racing, acquired skipper Boris Herrmann's 2022 VPLP-designed IMOCA 60 Malizia-Seaexplorer and plans to devote the next year or so to qualifying for the next edition of the Vendée Globe.

Clapcich, it should be noted, won the 2022-2023 edition of The Ocean Race aboard 11th Hour Racing, competed in the 2017-2018 edition of race (then called the Volvo Ocean Race), and served on the crew of the NYYC American Magic Women in the 2024 Puig Women's America's Cup. Additionally, Clapcich, who was born in Italy but became a U.S. citizen in 2024, competed in the 2012 London Olympics in the Women's Laser Radial class (now called the ILCA 6 class), and at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 49erFX class for Italy.

Provided that Clapcich qualifies for the Vendée Globe (our fingers are crossed for her and her team!), she will become the first sailor to have competed in sailing's four biggest events—the America's Cup, the Olympics, The Ocean Race, and the Vendée Globe.

"To have 11th Hour Racing's trust in me is an incredible honor," said Clapcich. "Sailing has shaped my life in so many ways, and this partnership allows me to give back—to the sport, to future generations, and to the ocean itself. 11th Hour Racing's commitment to sustainability and social progress is truly inspiring, and I'm excited to work alongside them to create lasting change, on and off the water."

Finally, in inshore news, Victor Wild's Fox team won the inaugural running of the GL52 Pensacola Cup (March 20-23), winning five out of the regatta's 11 races. They were joined on the winner's podium by Peter Askew's Wizard team, and by Doug DeVos's Windquest squad.

The GL52 fleet's next event, dubbed the GL52 Southern Showdown, is set to unfurl on Pensacola Bay from April 10-13, before heading north to the Great Lakes for five events between July and October.

May the four winds blow you safely home.

David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor

Related Articles

The oldest video footage of Moth sailing
A look back into our video archive, to when the name of this class first settled down We delve into our video archive to find the oldest possible videos that show Moth racing. Are these International Moths, British Moths... or was the name still Olive, Inverloch 11ft, National Moth or Brent One-Design?! Posted today at 11:00 am
The power of tech
What is the cost of safety? How do you measure it? More importantly, how do you appreciate it? What is the cost of safety? How do you measure it? More importantly, how do you appreciate it? Posted on 2 Jul
An evening with the Scaramouche Sailing Trust
Sailing hasn't always been a sport for inner-city state schools like the Greig City Academy Sailing hasn't always been a sport for inner-city state schools like the Greig City Academy (GCA). But they've shown it can be accessible to everyone, with amazing results. Posted on 2 Jul
Jazz Turner completes Project FEAR
Drama right to the end in her non-stop, solo, unassisted navigation of the British Isles Jazz Turner has completed Project FEAR, her non-stop, solo, unassisted navigation of the British Isles in her Albin 27 yacht. A flotilla of supporters met her in Seaford Bay, which grew and grew the closer they came to Brighton Marina. Posted on 1 Jul
Project FEAR is in the final few days
Charity circumnavigation almost over, in record time, with a record total raised Jazz Turner is expected to reach home (Brighton Marina) on Monday 30th June or Tuesday 1st July. She has sailed round the British Isles - all round Ireland and the Shetland Islands - without any assistance in 27 days so far. Posted on 28 Jun
Funding for clubs transforms sailing opportunities
During the latest RYA Participation Webinar we heard from UK clubs about their experiences During the latest RYA Participation Webinar we heard from a range of UK clubs, walking through their case studies, and then heard from experts in finance who talked us through the opportunities and pitfalls of acquiring funds. Posted on 26 Jun
A brief history of marine instrument networks
Hugh Agnew has been involved since the outset, and continues to develop at the cutting edge One man who has been involved since the outset, and continues to develop at the cutting edge, is Hugh Agnew, the Cambridge-educated mathematician who is one of the founders of A+T Instruments in Lymington, so I spoke to him to find out more... Posted on 25 Jun
Project FEAR turns southwards
Charity circumnavigation progress report from the Shetland Islands Last month I didn't even know that Muckle Flugga existed. Yet today, the very name of the island brought tears of emotion to my eyes, as I heard Jazz Turner scream it out in victory, in a video she took when passing the lighthouse. Posted on 22 Jun
The Big Bash
Every summer the tournament rolls into town. A short format of the game. Fun and excitement abound. Every summer the tournament rolls into town. Local and international players. A short format of the game, run over a relatively compact six-week season. Posted on 15 Jun
The oldest video footage of Kiel Week
A look back into our video archive at the Kieler Woche of the 60s and early 70s In our series of articles looking back in time through our video archive, we visit Germany. Kiel Week is been a crucial event on the world circuit, and here we look back at the Kieler Woche of the 60s and early 70s. Posted on 15 Jun