Riding the British merry-go-round

The merry-go-round keeps spinning in Great Britain with the news that Dylan Fletcher will helm the SailGP Team for Season 5.

Fletcher drove the British team in SailGP’s first ever season in 2019, but when the team was bought and taken over by 5-time Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie, Fletcher was on the outside looking in for Season 2.

Fletcher went on to win a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as did British team member Giles Scott, but it was Scott that Ainslie brought along for the 2021 America’s Cup, and had helm the SailGP team when Ainslie retired. Scott was also to be Ainslie’s co-helm for the 2024 America’s Cup, but was replaced prior to racing by … Fletcher.

For Scott, rather than wonder about his future in Ainslie’s world, he answered the call to take over the Canada SailGP Team for Season 5. The question then lingered about the British team helming role, and whether Ainslie would select team strategist and 2024 Women’s America’s Cup skipper Hannah Mills for the helm role. The answer… apparently not.

The 36-year-old Fletcher hopes for better results after finishing fourth out of six teams in Season 1.

“I’m buzzing to be back sailing the F50 again,” admits Fletcher. “Since Season 1 a lot has changed for me with winning Olympic gold in Tokyo, the Moth World Championships, and most recently co-helming with Ben Ainslie in the 37th America’s Cup.

“The SailGP format of 12 boats racing around a really short course at incredible speeds in amazing venues is a dream really. We will be taking on some of the best sailors in the world but I’m joining a seriously talented team and looking forward to the challenge ahead.”

He joins a line-up on-board that Olympic gold medalists Mills and Iain Jensen and three-time America’s Cup athletes Neil Hunter, Nick Hutton, and Luke Parkinson. The British team aims to build on last season in which the team won three of the 13 events but finished fifth out of 10 teams.

Twelve Teams for Season 5
• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Italy
• New Zealand*
• Spain*
• Switzerland
• United States
* League funded teams

SailGP information – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Schedule – 14 events
2024
November 23-24 – Dubai, UAE

2025
January 18-19 – Auckland, New Zealand
February 8-9 – Sydney, Australia
March 15-16 – Los Angeles, USA
March 22-26 – San Francisco, USA
May 3-4 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 7-8 – New York City, USA
July 19-20 – Portsmouth, Great Britain
August 16-17 – Sassnitz, Germany
September 6-7 – Taranto, Italy
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain
November 7-8 – Middle East *
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE
* Venue to be announced

Format for Season 5:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Five qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the prize purse (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $400,000.00 USD prize purse with winning team earning $200k at each event).
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $2 million USD prize).
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will get a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had a $350,000.00 prize).

For competition documents, click here.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.

Source: GBR SailGP, SSN