SailGP cancels event due to wing defect

After identifying a defect in select wingsails across the F50 fleet, the SailGP league has canceled the next Season 5 event – planned for May 3-4 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – in order to facilitate required repairs. Racing will resume on June 7-8 in New York, NY.

The issue was discovered following testing and analysis of the Australia SailGP Team’s wingsail collapse that occurred at the San Francisco event on March 22-23. SailGP CEO Russell Coutts has called the decision “a necessary action to take.

“After thorough review, our engineers and technicians have discovered an issue with the bonding of the core material in the shear web of some of the wingsails, which could potentially compromise the structural integrity of those wingsails.

“As such, we’ve made the prudent choice to suspend next month’s event, giving us sufficient time to complete repairs and conduct any further investigations.”

SailGP will consider potential options to reschedule the 2025 Rio event.

“While we know this news will be hugely disappointing, the safety of our athletes is our key priority,” added Coutts. “It’s a big job ahead, but we’re confident we can get all 12 national teams ready to race when SailGP returns to New York in June.”

SailGP information – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 4 events)
1. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 39 points
2. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 38 points
3. Spain – Diego Botin, 36 points
4. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 35 points
5. Canada – Giles Scott, 34 points
6. France – Quintin Delapierre, 28 points*
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 18 points
8. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 13 points
9. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 9 points**
10. Brazil – Martine Grael, 2 point**
11. United States – Taylor Canfield, 2 points**
12. Germany – Erik Heil, -1 points**
* France was awarded points for the first two events as their F50 was not available
**Teams receive season penalty points for incidents during practice or racing

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 12-13 – Saint-Tropez, France
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain
November 7-8 – Middle East
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE
* The season began with 14 events but Tranto was replaced with Saint-Tropez, while Rio and Middle East were cancelled though Rio may be rescheduled.

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).
• Ten of the 12 teams are privately owned, with the league having ownership of New Zealand and Spain.

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: SailGP