SailGP delivers a great Portsmouth event, 52 Super Series news, and updates from the San Pedro OCR
by David Schmidt 28 Jul 16:00 BST
July 28, 2026
Los Gallos SailGP Team celebrate on board their support boat after winning the Final - Race Day 2 of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP - Portsmouth,UK © Ricardo Pinto/SailGP
SailGP's high-performance foiling circuit arrived in Portsmouth, on England's southern coast, last weekend for the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix, which was the first of four UK and European events that will stretch out through the end of the summer. A total of thirteen teams competed in reportedly fantastic conditions across five fleet races (three on Saturday and two on Sunday) that determined entry into Sunday afternoon's four-boat, winner-takes-all final, which saw Diego Botin and his Spanish-flagged Los Gallos SailGP Team claim top honors.
Los Gallos was joined on the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix winner's podium by Nathan Outteridge and his Swedish-flagged Artemis SailGP Team, and by Giles Scott and his Canadian-flagged Northstar SailGP Team.
In addition to delivering cheering crowds, Portsmouth presented breeze-on conditions that allowed the fleet to race with their small, 18-meter wingsails and their high-speed rudders and foils.
SailGP leadership continued with the split-group fleet-racing format that the league has been experimenting with this season, and which they ran in all of their fleet races at their recent Halifax event (June 20-21).
In Portsmouth, this pitted seven teams in Group A and six teams in Group B for the fleet races and produced a total of 10 different winners across the ten races, with no team taking more than one bullet.
While this gave fans of all flags reason to cheer, it also reduced the number of boats on SailGP's infamously short starting lines and tightly packed courses, which likely increased the safety margins for all involved.
For Botin and Outteridge, the weekend marked a repeat of the final standings from the Halifax event, which also saw the Spanish take the win, followed by the Swedes.
"An amazing weekend—with the conditions we had—very windy, with a small wing, which we love," said Botin in an official SailGP communication. "It was amazing to get the win back-to-back after Halifax; it felt like we were gelling as a team in every aspect."
While Outteridge and his Artemis SailGP Team may be new additions to SailGP's lineup this season, this hasn't stopped this talent-riven team from pushing hard for great results.
"The final could have gone either way," reported Outteridge in a SailGP communication. "We had the lead, we had a really good start, and it's always tough when you get the choice of which top mark you want to take and the boat behind goes the other way and passes you. It's a little tough, but the fact that we're in the mix and doing all the basic things really well is really good."
Tom Slingsby and his Australian-flagged Bonds Flying Roos SailGP Team finished the Portsmouth event in seventh place, however this mid-fleet result still sees them topping the 2026 Season Championship leaderboard with a total of 66 points. The Aussies are joined at the top of the current 2026 standings by Los Gallos (54 points) and Artemis (47 points).
Impressively, Taylor Canfield and his U.S. SailGP Team are currently sitting in fourth place (46 points) for the season. While there's still a lot of sailing to go this season, including the three other European events (Rockwool Germany Sail Grand Prix [August 22-23], Spain Sail Grand Prix [September 5-6], and Geneva Sail Grand Prix [September 19-20]) and two scheduled Middle Eastern events (Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix [November 21-22], and Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2026 Season Grand Final [November 28-29]), this represents a massive and hard-earned improvement for the Americans, who finished the 2025 season in last place.
According to SailGP, a ticketed crowd of some 20,000 spectators turned out to watch the weekend's action at the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix.
"The fans have been amazing, and all credit to the sport, despite us not delivering the result they wanted," said Dylan Fletcher, who is the driver of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team, in an official SailGP report. "It was amazing to see all the kids with their t-shirts on... Hopefully we've inspired the next generation a little bit."
Sail-World tips our cap to SailGP for continuing to experiment with split racing for the fleet races, to all ten of the teams that took a bullet in the fleet races, and of course to Botin and his Los Gallos SailGP team for delivering at this event when it mattered most.
Meanwhile, in other sailing news, the 52 Super Series contested their third (of five) 2026 events this weekend at the Marina Rubicon Lanzarote 52 Super Series Sailing Week (July 20-25). After seven races, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin's French-flagged Paprec team took top honors, followed by Andrea Lacorte's Italian-flagged Alkedo Vitamina team, and Takashi Okura's American-flagged Sled squad.
This win marks the first time that Petithuguenin's Paprec team has ascended to the podium's top step at a 52 Super Series event, despite the fact that the team has competed on the circuit since 2012.
"I have been waiting for the last 17 years to win at the end of a TP52 regatta and I am so happy," said Petithuguenin in an event report. "And you know that it's going to cost me a lot because I promise to have container of champagne when I come back to Lanzarote, there will be champagne for everyone!"
According to the 52 Super Series schedule, Mr. Petithuguenin has until the Puerto Calero Lanzarote 52 Super Series Royal Cup (August 24-29) to get the bubbly chilled.
Meanwhile, in Olympic class news, the San Pedro Olympic Class Regatta (July 17-August 8) has been unfurling on the waters off of Los Angeles, California, and has seen racing take place amongst ILCA 6s, ILCA 7s, and Mixed 470s (July 17-24), with Nacra 17s, 49ers, and 49erFXs queued up to race next (August 1-8).
Not only is this an important opportunity for Olympic hopefuls to speed check against their rivals at the halfway point of this Olympic quadrennial, but San Pedro is also one of the sites where racing will take place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
After 16 races, Hannah Snellgrove (GBR) took the win in the women's 63-boat ILCA 6 fleet, followed by the USA's own Charlotte Rose, and Eve McMahon (IRL).
Amongst the men's ILCA 7 fleet, Matt Wearn (AUS) proved he the fastest gun out of the 63-boat fleet, followed by Pavlos Kontides (CYP) and Michael Beckett (GBR).
And in the Mixed 470 class, Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris (GBR) beat out 18 other teams. They were joined on the winner's podium by Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort (GER), and by Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Lindner (SWE).
Sail-World congratulates all San Pedro OCR winners, and we are looking forward to following the Nacra 17, 49er, and 49erFX racing as it unfurls.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor