SailGP's NYC event, celebrating the J/70 Corinthian Worlds and the Women's 2v2 Team Race winners
by David Schmidt 2 Jun 16:00 BST
June 2, 2026
Bonds Flying Roos SailGP Team celebrate victory on Race Day 2 - Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix - May .31, 2026 © Ricardo Pinto/SailGP
SailGP's foiling circus arrived in the Big Apple last weekend for the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix (May 30-31), which was the sixth event of the professional sailing circuit's planned 13-event 2026 calendar. The New York event was the only SailGP stopover that's set to unfurl on American waters this season, and the Empire State delivered challenging conditions that only allowed event organizers to officially score Sunday's three fleet races and final. But, after the finishing guns fell silent, Tom Slingsby's Australian-flagged Bonds Flying Roos topped SailGP's NYC leaderboard, followed by Dylan Fletcher's Emirates GBR and Giles Scott's Canadian-flagged Northstar team.
Saturday arrived with swirling, gusting winds that prevented event organizers from launching most of the F50s due to winds that exceeded the crane's operating limitations. Only four boats out of the 12-strong fleet got their undercarriages wet on Saturday morning, namely the Americans, the Aussies, the Brits, the Spanish (N.B., the Kiwi-flagged team is still waiting for their boat to be repaired following a horrific collision with the French on Valentine's Day at the Auckland event).
Then, calamity visited the Australians when they stuffed their bows during pre-race sailing and suffered a day-ending crash.
This left a gang of three to contend with the billowy airs.
"It was very gusty-just a crazy racecourse," said Taylor Canfield, who is the driver of the U.S. SailGP Team, in an official event communication. "At times, it was fully under control, and everything felt normal. Then, you're bearing away in a 20-plus knot puff, doing nearly [54 knots] coming into a rock wall, and you need to drop the board and gybe the boat."
While the organizers were able to start three races, only the Brits and the Spanish were able to compete in Race 1. The Brits took the first win, while the Spanish took the next two bullets; the Americans, who rejoined for races two and three, finished in third place twice.
Ultimately, however, SailGP announced that no points would be awarded for these races, given that most of the fleet was stuck ashore.
Conditions proved kinder to SailGP's operations on Sunday, and all boats were successfully launched. Unfortunately, this auspicious start didn't last long: The Spanish suffered hydraulic problems prior to the first race, which put them out of contention for the day's racing.
Still, the first two races came off smoothly, with the Brits, the Americans, and the Japanese-flagged Artemis SailGP Team earning points in the first race; Race 2 saw the hometown team proudly take the bullet, followed by the Aussies and the Italians.
Unfortunately, Race 3's start saw a three-boat pile-up involving the Americans, the Italians, and the Brazilians.
"Things unfolded quickly and there wasn't much awareness that a big crash was coming, so there wasn't much time to react," said Canfield in an official SailGP report. "When we noticed it, we did everything we could."
The Americans were penalized 7 points (Rule 14), while the Italians suffered a four-point hit; the Brazilians weren't penalized for the incident.
The Canadians took the win in Race 3, followed by the Rockwool Racing SailGP Team and the Australians.
This set the stage for the three-boat final, which the Bonds Flying Roos won, followed by Emirates GBR and the Northstar SailGP Team.
Impressively, this win marks a hat trick of consecutive event wins for Slingsby and his Bonds Flying Roos.
"Three wins in a row? Pretty wild, to be honest," said Slingsby in an event communication. "It hasn't really sunk in yet. But the team is in an absolutely awesome place, we all love what we do and love sailing together. We have the best group of people, and I can't wait to see what happens next."
All told, this puts the Bonds Flying Roos in first place for the 2026 Season Championship with 55 points, followed by Emirates GBR with 44 points, and—impressively—by the resurgent U.S. SailGP Team with 36 points. The Spanish-flagged Los Gallos are currently sitting in fourth place with 34 points.
SailGP's next stop is Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the Canada Sail Grand Prix will take place from June 20-21. From there, SailGP crosses the Pond for the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix, which will unfurl on the waters off Portsmouth from July 25-26.
Jumping from SailGP's fully professional sailing circuit to Corinthian sailing news, Alex Cutler's Hedgehog (BER 1328) team defended their world championship title at the J/70 Corinthian World Championship (May 23-30), which just wrapped up on the waters off of Marseille, France. All told, Cutler and his Hedgehog teammates Charles Pucciariello, Keith Davids and Brad Rodi beat out 87 other teams from 20 different countries.
"We all sailed together in college," said Cutler in an official event report. "It's very special to be able to sail with your friends. It's the way Corinthian sailing should be. We very much enjoy our time together, and the sailing is a bonus."
Cutler and company were joined on the winner's podium by Sam Haynes's AUS 725 team and Tonu Toniste's EST 1796 crew; Andrew Loe's USA 1863 finished in fourth place.
Meanwhile, this past weekend also saw good racing take place at the Women's 2v2 Team Race, which was hosted by the New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island. While the first day's racing fell victim to a northerly weather system that delivered 45 knot gusts, Sunday delivered light breeze that strengthened into heavy airs throughout the day.
St. Francis Yacht Club (Molly Carapiet, Rosalind Meade, Samantha Steele, McKenzie Wilson, Lindsey Baab, Helen Lord, Kate Shiber [team captain], and Elena VandenBerg) took their third consecutive win at this prestigious event.
"We have a phenomenal team," said St.FYC skipper Molly Carapiet in an event release. "The teamwork amongst the eight of us is really fantastic. I think we have really good boathandling and communication on both of the boats, and I think we're really resilient when things go a little sideways in a race, so we have a lot of trust in each other to help each other out."
St.FYC was joined on the winner's podium by Larchmont Yacht Club and Newport Harbor Yacht Club.
Finally, next weekend marks the start of the 2026 Tasar Worlds, which are set to take place in Kunigami, Okinawa, Japan, from June 5-12. This event will see 117 teams from six countries competing. While the Tasar class enjoys regional strength in Australia, Japan, and the Pacific Northwest of the USA, odds are excellent that this world-championship event will deliver some fantastic racing given some of the names on the entry list.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor