SailGP: Spainish team confident of racing in Auckland after major repair
by SailGP 8 Feb 23:56 GMT
Los Gallos SailGP Team - Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix Rolex SailGP Championship Event 1 Season 6 © Ricardo Pinto/SailGP
Spanish Sail GP team, Los Gallos, will return to the SailGP start line in Auckland, confirming their place at the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix just weeks after a dramatic training crash ruled the Spanish team out of the 2026 season opener in Perth.
Damage sustained during pre-event training in Fremantle forced Los Gallos to sit out racing - a frustrating blow at the very first hurdle of the season.
But following an intense repair effort led by SailGP Technologies and the league’s Tech Team, the Spanish F50 is now on track to be back in action for the second event of the year.
Wing trimmer Florian Trittel vividly recalls the moment things went wrong in Perth.
“I remember the moment really well,” he said. “Something broke in the daggerboard case and I was actually looking right at it, because I’m responsible for raising that board, so my eyes naturally go there.
“We were pulling off what I thought was a pretty good jibe, and then all of a sudden something wasn’t working properly. I realised something was wrong, and then I saw the foil lose its position.”
What followed was a sudden nosedive that brought the session to an abrupt halt.
“I was sent flying towards the front and straight into the net, similar to what Chris Draper [Artemis wing trimmer] experienced the day before,” Trittel added.
“My first reaction was to ask Nic [van der Velden, Los Gallos’ strategist] if I’d cut my mouth, because for wing trimmers it’s always scary flying into the net… in that moment I think all of us felt that it was probably going to be over.”
Initial assessments only reinforced that fear. The crash had caused irreparable damage to their F50, ruling them out of the opening weekend.
“If something breaks in the daggerboard case, we know it’s usually something major,” Trittel explained. “We really thought it was probably over… with major damage you normally don’t expect it to be fixed in time. Luckily we have huge support from the tech team and from SailGP.”
A SailGP Technologies team was on the ground in Auckland to meet Los Gallos’ F50 when it arrived by boat from Perth.
Thankfully SailGP Technologies have built up a stock of spare parts, allowing them to swap out the damaged foil and daggerboard case for new ones. That support has now delivered a crucial result.
“It’s now confirmed that we will be on the start line,” Trittel said. “What we’re working out now is whether we commission the boat on Thursday or Friday, just to make sure everything is in place, so we can race on the weekend at least.”
Despite missing valuable race points in Perth, confidence within the Spanish camp remains high heading into Auckland.
“Everyone is owning their role and we’re connecting well,” Trittel said. “We felt strong in training in Perth, and we want to replicate that in Auckland and build on it for the rest of the season. I’m confident… either way, we’ll try to be ready.”