SailGP: Big decisions ahead for SailGP League and some teams
by Richard Gladwell 20 Aug 13:44 BST
Los Gallos - Day 2 - Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix 2026 © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
The groups have been confirmed for the Rockwool Germany Sail Grand Prix in Sassnitz, with the fleet split into two groups for the opening races of the event.
In reality, the fleet split was known as soon as the teams crossed the finish line in the previous event in Portsmouth. The fleet is split on the basis of their finish in the last event, rather than being seeded on the basis of standings in the Championship.
Applying the ABBA formula to split the 13-boat fleet, Group A always has seven teams, while Group B has just six.
[The ABBA method of seeding—also known as snake or serpentine seeding — is a tournament format used to divide a ranked list of competitors into mathematically balanced groups. In this system, the top-ranked team goes to Group A, the next two go to Group B, the fourth goes to Group A, and the pattern alternates to distribute strength evenly.]
The splits are, along with their Portsmouth Event place:
Group A:
- Los Gallos (1)
- Explora Swiss (4)
- Black Foils (5)
- DS Automobiles Team France (8)
- Rockwool Denmark Racing (9)
- Red Bull Italy (12)
- Mubadala Brazil (13)
Group B:
- Artemis (2)
- NorthStar (3)
- USA SailGP (6)
- Bonds Flying Roos(7)
- Germany (10)
- Emirates GBR (11)
At the conclusion of the Qualifier racing, the top two finishers will progress to a four-boat final, without any points being carried forward.
Form reversals mid-season have put pressure on all teams except the Black Foils, which lost several events after their catastrophic collision with DS Automobiles France on Day 2 of SailGP Auckland. They are second to bottom on the Points Table with 14pts, and are effectively the spoilers for the rest of Season 6.
They are very capable of getting into the top-end positions and forcing other teams out of the Final or down the Event points table. The Kiwis have a 32-point differential to crack the top four, and only Peter Burling's mother believes he is capable of that.
With new ownership, the pressure is off the Black Foils for the Season Points, and provided they keep getting into Finals or close to it, the new owners should be happy.
Looking at the Season Points, the real question is when will the season end?
The final two events are in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, in the last two weeks of November. F1 cancelled two events scheduled for April in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia - both of which are farther from the military situation around the Strait of Hormuz than the two UAE states. Additionally, the ship carrying the SailGP circus will have to pass through the Strait to unload in the UAE.
Optimistically, the League will make a decision on the UAE venues after the event in Geneva on 21-22 September.
However, by leaving the decision that late, there is slim to no chance of slotting in substitute venues, and the chances increase of the season reducing to just two more events remaining after this weekend.
That being the case, the Flying Roos look safe to take their fourth season win. Currently, they enjoy a 12-point buffer, but they finished 7th in Portsmouth and appear to be in a form downturn. Second overall are the Spanish team, Los Gallos, who are in a form upturn.
For the next three teams on the points table, Artemis (Sweden), USA and Great Britain are enjoying varying form. Sweden, in their first season in the League are in an upturn, USA have plateaued after a good early season, and the British are very erratic.
For the remaining eight teams, they will be looking to get the best possible results, mainly for bragging rights, rather than long-shot hopes of making the Final. They will be hoping that there are indeed five events left in the tail of Season 6, and not three.
Of course, once the Season ends - either at the end of September or the end of November - then the transfer period will start, complicated by the entry of the yet-to-be-announced 14th team.
It is a fact of life of professional sport that changes must be made in teams that are consistently at the bottom of the points table - unless they are quite happy living as cellar-dwellers.
Compounding the situation is the League teams' lack of talent development, who habitually play a short-term game. Next year, in 2026, is also America's Cup year, and raiding Cup teams for talent is a fool's errand. Many League sailors have clauses in their contracts giving them an automatic leave pass for the America's Cup campaign and testing. A tight recruitment situation got even tighter.
However, the situation is a Godsend for those looking to break into professional sailing and SailGP in particular. Teams have no choice but to take risks with new talent, and, provided the promised training facilities are in place, 2027 is the Promised Land for young sailors wanting to turn Pro, regardless of salary.
Of course, a shortened season will give teams another couple of months to get sailing time into the sailors who need it for their SailGP licences - but again the League and teams need to be thinking ahead, and provide certainty as to how the Season 6 calendar is going to unfold.
There have been few changes to the teams, except for some sailors sitting on the Reserves bench. The notable change is the return of Leigh McMillan, injured in Auckland, coming back into the crew as Trimmer, dropping Moth World champion Enzo Balanger back to the reserve bench.
Rockwool Denmark suffered some damage after a near capsize in a mid-week practice session, causing some damage to their F50, which is expected to be repaired for the weekend and hopefully for official Practice on Friday.
Shore manager James Gell explained to SailGP.com: “The guys came downwind, did a pretty aggressive roundup and got the boat to a pretty marginal angle. Unfortunately it filled up the port cockpit with water and with that happening it got all the electronics wet.”
Light to moderate winds (8-10kts) are forecast for Saturday at Sassnitz, with Sunday afternoon predicted to be stronger.
For full team lists click here