SailGP: New rudders for Saint-Tropez

As the SailGP teams prepare for racing on September 12-13 in Saint-Tropez, France, the league has rolled out new rudders for the 12 teams. Thinner with a longer cord length and more efficient elevators, they are designed to provide greater control at high speed and better foiling performance at low speeds.

After more than 18 months of testing, the new high-speed rudders will also raise the threshold for cavitation – aiding control and reducing the risk of breakage.

Cavitation – which makes the boat more difficult to control with highly variable forces – will now begin to occur when the F50 is moving in excess of 106 km/h (66mph) – a significant increase from the previous onset speed of 83 km/h (51mph) on the first-edition rudders.

“In a championship where teams are consistently pushing the boundaries – competing against each other – every improvement must balance performance with safety and precision,” said SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts. “These latest innovations are part of SailGP’s broader vision to redefine sailing through technological excellence, athletic drama, speed, and performance at the highest levels.”

Additionally, new software is soon to be released to provide an extra layer of protection for crews when managing extreme loads experienced during high-speed maneuvers. The software will identify when the F50 is sailing in a high-speed, highly-loaded moment, and automatically put an increased positive angle of attack (rake) into the daggerboard (foil) to mitigate the risk of over-loading the boat.

“Once fully operational, the new software will be a meaningful step toward safeguarding the fleet in the most demanding scenarios,” shared Coutts. “While nothing replaces expert handling, this change will mitigate some risk of overloading the boat, and provide an extra layer of protection for crews and equipment.”

SailGP’s in-house technology team consists of more than 100 people including designers, engineers, analysts, boat builders and various specialists. The global racing championship officially opened SailGP Technologies earlier this year – based in Southampton, UK, the US $10 million state-of-the-art facility powers the league’s ongoing design and development, alongside the maintenance and construction of SailGP’s growing F50 fleet.

Racing takes place 1:30-3:00pm CEST on September 12 and 12:30-2:00pm CEST on September 13.

SailGP information – Saint-Tropez event – YouTube

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 8 events)
1. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 61 points
2. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 61 points
3. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 58 points
4. Spain – Diego Botin, 56 points
5. France – Quintin Delapierre, 47 points*
6. Canada – Giles Scott, 44 points
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 30 points
8. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 22 points**
9. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 20 points
10. Brazil – Martine Grael, 11 points**
11. Germany – Erik Heil, 6 points**
12. United States – Taylor Canfield, -8 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.

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).
• The league still owns the New Zealand and Spain teams and are looking at how they can bring new investment into them.

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