Great Britain wins SailGP Season 5

The fifth season of SailGP finished as it should with Great Britain taking the title. They had been the form team, winning the most events (3 of 12), but still had to overcome the final stage on November 29-30 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The season began and ended with events in the Middle East, and while the United Arab Emirates oil money must be good for the league, the meager shoreside fan action was matched by the light winds on the Persian Gulf. A league built on high adrenaline instead strolled.

However, the top three teams on the season leaderboard – Great Britain, New Zealand, and Australia – survived the six fleet races to advance to the winner-take-all $2 million Grand Final. As this was the lone event decided on the fleet races alone, their focus was to keep defender Spain out, which made for odd optics as the best teams did poorly.

After Denmark took the event win, the focus turned to the 3-boat final. Australia led the sprint to mark one, but quickly were hunted down by New Zealand, who had managed to gain a 100-meter lead at the mid-way point of the final race.

With Great Britain in third after two legs, they took the lead at the first windward mark after leg three and extended on the remaining three legs for the win. On the final reach to the finish, Australia gave one final push, sling-shotting around New Zealand to cross the line in second.

“Everything was stressful – like we were up against the best sailors in the world,” noted British helm Dylan Fletcher. “Even though the Grand Final teams hadn’t performed this weekend, we all-managing our own little battles. So, when it came down to it – I think you saw testament to how close it is at the top. Any one of us could have won that race and I’m very happy it was us.”

Great Britain pocketed $2.4 million – $2 million for the Grand Final race and $400K for being the season points leader. Across the season, they also picked up a $4.4 million, while the New Zealand earned $1.76 million and Australia got $1.2 million.

Crew list: https://sailgp.com/news/25/race-preview-full-team-crew-lists-abu-dhabi-grand-final-revealed/

SailGP information – Abu Dhabi results – Season 5 results

Season 5 Schedule and Winners – 14 events*
2024
November 23-24 – Dubai, UAE – Team New Zealand

2025
January 18-19 – Auckland, New Zealand – Team Australia
February 8-9 – Sydney, Australia – Team Great Britain
March 15-16 – Los Angeles, USA – Team Canada
March 22-23 – San Francisco, USA – Team Spain
May 3-4 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 7-8 – New York City, USA – Team Spain
July 19-20 – Portsmouth, Great Britain – Team New Zealand
August 16-17 – Sassnitz, Germany – Team France
September 6-7 – Taranto, Italy
September 12-13 – Saint-Tropez, France – Team Great Britain
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland – Team Germany
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain – Team Great Britain
November 7-8 – Middle East
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE – Team Denmark
* 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. The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing. The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will get a monetary award.
• The league still owns the New Zealand and Spain teams and are looking at how they can bring new investment into them.

Prize money:
Over the course of the 2025 Season, a total of $12M USD is up for grabs – the largest prize purse in the sport of sailing. Teams earn prize money at each event along with the final season leaderboard, with the top three teams of the season facing off for a $2m winner-take-all final race.

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