Emirates GBR street fighting and scrapping for every metre on Race Day 1 in Geneva
by Emirates GBR SailGP Team 20 Sep 2025 22:03 BST
20-21 September 2025
Emirates GBR sits second on the event leaderboard - Race Day 1 of the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix © Felix Diemer for SailGP
Emirates GBR Driver Dylan Fletcher said it felt as though the team was "street fighting" and "scrapping for every metre" on Race Day 1 of the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix on Saturday.
With light conditions on Lake Geneva, it was a battle for all 12 SailGP teams to keep their F50s foiling, especially with crew size reduced from six to three people on board due to the lighter air. Despite the challenging circumstances, Emirates GBR once again showed that consistency is key, delivering a solid performance and coming away with a result of 3-3-4 in the three fleet races, leaving them second on the event leaderboard heading into Race Day 2 on Sunday.
Joining Fletcher on-board the Emirates GBR F50 on Race Day 1 was Flight Controller Luke Parkinson and Wing Trimmer Iain Jensen. All 12 F50s were installed with new light air T-foils and rudders for Race Day 1, which enabled the fleet to take off at lower speeds. Parkinson said all teams were "getting to grips with the new foils" and "working out how high we can fly the F50s with the new configuration". Despite no training days on the new foils and rudder, Emirates GBR seemed to be handling the new equipment well, securing the top speed of the day by hitting 63.32km/h in just 8km/h of windspeed.
Fletcher said: "It was a super difficult day out there. We've not had much experience with just three people on-board so we certainly weren't at our best today, but to come away with two thirds and a fourth is a solid result. In the light conditions it felt like we were street fighting out there and scrapping for every metre on the course. We're really happy to have these new foils on, it's absolutely unbelievable how we're able to foil around in this much wind so it's great action."
The first race of the day was dominated by New Zealand's Black Foils who stayed at the back of the pack in the pre-start box, giving them more room to get foiling and fly across the start line. Peter Burling's Kiwi crew then led to Mark 1, with ROCKWOOL Denmark in second and Emirates GBR in third. The top three remained the same for the rest of the race, with the Black Foils too difficult to catch up with after their flying start. While Emirates GBR secured third place, Race 1 was a disaster for the USA SailGP Team as they were black flagged and disqualified for "barging" and not leaving enough room at the start line.
Race 2 saw Emirates GBR cross the start line in third, behind Australia's BONDS Flying Roos and ROCKWOOL Denmark. Previous race winners New Zealand were now stone last after not being able to take flight on the foils before the start. In the third leg, Emirates GBR dropped down to fifth after falling off the foils during a manoeuvre, but the crew managed to fight their way back up to third in the fifth leg. Australia secured the win, followed by Switzerland in second, and as the Brits approached the last mark in third, USA and Germany were hot on their heels. All three teams were racing for third, before they all fell victim to the light conditions and fell of the foils. It was then a displacement race to the finish line, with Emirates GBR coming out best and managing to secure another third place finish.
The third and final race of the day began with France storming across the start line and leading to Mark 1, followed by NorthStar Canada in second and Emirates GBR in third. The Brits then fell of their foils and despite managing to recover well, they were pipped to third by the BONDS Flying Roos, who had made a miraculous journey from last at the start to third at the finish.
Speaking after the three races, Emirates GBR Flight Controller Luke Parkinson said: "There was a lot of multitasking going on out there, handling the flight and trimming. SailGP is very hard when we have those light conditions and you're faced with foiling, not foiling and having to choose the different modes so we are very happy to be where we are on the overall standings, especially after no training days on the new foils."
The Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix resumes for Race Day 2 on Sunday, with UK viewers able to watch the action live on TNT Sports from 13:00 BST.