SailGP: Russell Coutts reports on the wingsail upgrades, Aussie and Italian buy-in and more.
by SailGP Media 7 Jun 11:49 BST
Jonathan Knottnerus-Meyer grinder - Germany SailGP - Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix - June 6, 2025 © Ricardo Pinto/SailGP
We’re back in New York for the third and final U.S. event of the season following our double header in Los Angeles and San Francisco in March.
We’ve come to New York following the cancellation of Rio, scheduled for May, after the unfortunate wing collapse of the Australian team in San Francisco.
Wingsail analysis and repairs
After doing some analysis, the team identified that we had a problem with the bonding in some of the shear webs. We set out to fix that by making them stronger. This was a significant refit job that meant the ship transporting the fleet of F50s and wings, which was in the southern Caribbean, was diverted to the American Magic facility in Pensacola, Florida where we started those repairs by cutting out the shear webs of all the bottom elements of the wings. That also meant taking off all the wing frames, producing new shear webs simultaneously at the SailGP Technologies facility in Southampton, then flying them to Pensacola and New York to refit them. As part of the refit, we've changed the core material in the shear web to an aluminium core and added laminate, which has made the wingsails about 2kg heavier but significantly stronger in torsion.
It’s been a huge undertaking and I must admit that when we first identified the problem and cancelled Rio, I was seriously concerned that we wouldn’t be able to finish these repairs in time for the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix However, the team did a remarkable job in record time and all wings have been finished and tested earlier this week which means we’ll have all 12 teams back on the start line this weekend.
New Sponsor and Ownership for the Flying Roos
The other big news is the team ownership announcement of Australia, with new title partner BONDS and the team will now be referred to as the BONDS Flying Roos. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are co-owners of the team, alongside driver Tom Slingsby who has become a part owner. The involvement of Ryan Reynolds is very exciting from a marketing perspective - we’ve all seen what he’s done with other sports teams – including Wrexham AFC – so we’re really excited to have them both involved and I’m sure we’re going to see big things from that team in the future.
It’s also great to have Tom Slingsby join Jimmy Spithill and Ben Ainslie as top athletes who have now secured ownership positions in teams.
And not forgetting Italy
We had another significant team ownership announcement last week too, with the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team being acquired by a group of investors and sports industry leaders, including Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway. As a league, we haven’t actively chased celebrity involvement in our teams, but the impact and global reach of owners and investors like Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, alongside Kylian Mbappe and Sebastien Vettel is undeniable.
At this stage in the Championship, only Spain and New Zealand are owned and operated by the league.
Australians are quicklier
Despite the Australians’ wing collapse in San Francisco, the team is still leading the 2025 Season leaderboard and there’s no question in my mind that Tom Slingsby has to be the highest ranked driver in SailGP. Jason Waterhouse is also incredibly important as the team’s flight controller, and I think they’ve built on the different thinking that wing trimmer Chris Draper has brought to the team following the departure of Kyle Langford to Red Bull Italy at the start of the season. Looking at the data, it’s obvious that the Australians are very fast upwind and that’s coming down to sailing technique.
They’ve been extremely guarded and selective about what they’re doing and I suspect that’s because they want to conceal their advantage with the season Grand Final in mind. When they need to make a gain upwind, they seem to have the wheels to move through the fleet.
And Canada too
Another standout team in the fleet is NorthStar Canada, which has picked up a 2-1-2 scorecard over the last three events. They’ve done an incredible job of not only getting to the top of the fleet but looking very comfortable there. They missed an entire race day in Auckland due to the injury of flight controller Billy Gooderham and they could very well be on the podium or even at the top of the Rolex SailGP Championship leaderboard if they’d have raced that day.
A tough time in the Big Apple
When we look at the conditions and forecast of this weekend, I think it’s going to be very challenging - I don’t think many of the teams are that familiar with the conditions here. The current is going to be significant and it’ll be coming out of the east river and the Hudson at different flow rates. Then you throw in the influence of Governors Island as well and we can expect unstable conditions. Teams are going to have to be very good at reading the current on the water and I think those teams and athletes with experience in those conditions - like Giles Scott, Dylan Fletcher, Chris Draper and Hannah Mills - may have an advantage here.
We’ve got light, variable winds forecast this weekend, and we do not have the option of the 29m wing as some of those components have been shipped back to SailGP Technologies in Southampton for repair. So we can expect very tricky race conditions with a reduced crew of four onboard to reduce weight. We’re expecting light winds, with the possibility of rain showers on Saturday, with slightly more winds on Sunday, so this could massively mix up the standings.
The Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix takes place on June 7/8.
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