Latest episode of Racing on the Edge spotlights penultimate 2025 Season stop
by SailGP 24 Nov 18:09 GMT
Racing on the Edge - Season 5, Episode 12 © SailGP
The latest episode of SailGP's behind-the-scenes docuseries Racing on the Edge, produced in partnership with Rolex, takes fans inside the penultimate event of the 2025 Season in Cádiz - where championship hopes, personal challenges and team dynamics collide under intense pressure.
Aptly named, The Last Seat, the episode zeroes in on the top four teams in contention for the winner-takes-all Grand Final in Abu Dhabi - and defending Rolex SailGP Champions Spain's efforts to hold off the relentless pursuit of Peter Burling's Black Foils.
Entering the weekend just outside the podium group, Los Gallos desperately needs a standout result and - critically - an edge on their Kiwi rivals. But, after a disappointing series of fleet race results, Diego Botín's young Spanish crew find their championship hopes - and the dreams of home fans - deflated heading into the Abu Dhabi decider.
Off the water, The Last Seat shocks with never-before-seen details of Peter Burling's high-profile America's Cup exit, with Burling revealing the "crazy" amount of control his former team wanted over his time.
"I definitely thought the departure was a little bit strange - how it all unfolded and how quickly it unfolded while I was away on a family holiday, not even in New Zealand," says Burling.
Continuing, "There are a lot of details as to why exactly that was, but yeah I think definitely the uncertainty and control team New Zealand wanted over me was just crazy from my point of view. It wasn't put in the words where 'you can't do SailGP, you have to do this or that' - it was more just a very large period of absolute uncertainty where they had full control over my time essentially."
Sport though, says Burling "is a reasonably cutthroat game. Certain people expect certain things out of others and if you're not happy to do that then you've got to pick a different path."
That "different path" is one Burling hopes will finish with the only title that has alluded the three-time America's Cup winner and Olympic Gold Medalist - to lift the Rolex SailGP Championship trophy and claim the sport's top prize - US $2 million - against the best in the world.
The Mubadala Abu Dhabi 2025 Season Grand Final presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council will unfold this weekend, November 29-30 - with all eyes on current season leaders Emirates GBR, three-time SailGP Champions the BONDS Flying Roos, Burling's Black Foils and - with an outside chance - Spain.
Find out more at SailGP.com/AbuDhabi.