Racing on the Edge 2026 Season Episode 5: The psychology behind SailGP success

Racing on the Edge 2026 Season Episode 5 © SailGP

The latest episode of SailGP's behind-the-scenes docuseries Racing on the Edge, produced in partnership with Rolex, explores the human side of elite sport, following Spain's Los Gallos and Canada's NorthStar as they take radically different approaches to building a winning team culture.

Titled "Empathy", episode five of the 2026 Season goes inside two teams facing very different challenges as the Rolex SailGP Championship moves through crucial mid-season Grands Prix in Halifax and Portsmouth.

Los Gallos arrive at the Canada Sail Grand Prix as one of the Championship's most consistent teams, regularly reaching event Finals but still searching for a breakthrough victory. NorthStar face the opposite problem, with results slipping, communication becoming increasingly strained and the pressure mounting on the Canadian team.

For NorthStar, the answer is to release that pressure. On home waters in Halifax, the athletes swap their F50 for tiny dinghies in a lighthearted 'SlowGP' race alongside local young sailors - an opportunity to reconnect, laugh together and rediscover the enjoyment of competition.

But beneath the fun lies a fiercely competitive group still searching for the formula that will turn its potential into results.

Los Gallos take a very different route. The episode follows the Spanish team's work with psychologist Ben Parker, using personality profiling, open conversations and psychological preparation to better understand how individual athletes respond to pressure and how they can help one another perform.

That process becomes deeply personal for strategist Nicole van der Velden, who reflects on the responsibility she assumed at a young age after her mother became seriously ill.

"Failing someone else feels harder than failing myself in that moment," Van der Velden says.

Parker explains that Los Gallos' work is ultimately about creating an environment in which athletes can remain connected even when the pressure peaks.

"Great teamwork is about creating conditions for others to be and do their best," Parker says. "You be the energy you want to see and your job is to make your crewmate shine."

Both approaches face their biggest test at the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth.

NorthStar's communication issues initially resurface, before driver Giles Scott takes control of a dramatic final fleet race and inspires a charge through the field to secure a place in the event Final.

Los Gallos also qualify - and then find themselves facing the ultimate examination of their psychological work.

After a difficult start, the Spanish team fight back into contention before a critical mistake onboard threatens to undo their race. Rather than allowing blame or frustration to take over, Los Gallos stay composed, recover and ultimately race from fourth to first to claim victory.

For Parker, it is proof that the team's work away from the water is holding when it matters most.

"A skill is not truly mastered until it no longer breaks down under pressure," he says. "The Portsmouth final was pressure and they pushed through it."

Racing on the Edge: Empathy offers an intimate look at the personalities, relationships and emotions behind SailGP's high-performance teams - and asks whether winning culture is built by escaping pressure or learning how to thrive within it.

Just two events remain of the 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship as the global racing league reaches fever pitch. Head to sailgp.com/dubai and sailgp.com/abudhabi for all the details.