Best sailing nation in the world?

Published on January 31st, 2025

The next SailGP event is on February 8-9 in Sydney, Australia, and there may be no better ambassador for the league and country than Tom Slingsby. Will Lennox from GQ Australia provides this report:


For many Australians, our greatest association with the sport of sailing is either a memory of the Sydney to Hobart race, or, if you’re old enough, when Australia won the 1983 America’s Cup, ending the 132-year dominance by the New York Yacht Club. As a land so famously “girt by sea”, we’re pretty good when our top sailors get out on the water.

Enter the Rolex Sail GP Championship. The fastest and most exciting race on water, it’s basically the F1 for sailing, and Australia is—no surprises—pretty damn good at it. Similarly to F1, it’s a team sport, but under the leadership of one man, sailor Tom Slingsby, Australia is sailing where few teams can follow.

Slingsby has a strong pedigree on the water. In 2012, he won the Men’s Laser Gold Medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Four years later in 2016, he skippered the winner-of-line honours yacht Perpetual Loyal in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Slingsby is now at the helm of the Australian Yacht competing in the SailGP, even winning the first three seasons of the competition. – Full report


SailGP informationYouTubeFacebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 2 of 14 events)*
1. Great Britain, 17 points
2. New Zealand, 17 points
3. Australia, 16 points
4. Spain, 16 points
5. Denmark, 10 points
6. France, 10 points
7. United States, 8 points
8. Switzerland, 6 points
9. Germany, 6 points
10. Canada, 6 points
11. Italy, 5 points
12. Brazil, 3 point
* Ten of the 12 teams are privately owned, with the league having ownership of New Zealand and Spain.

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 22-23 – 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.

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