SailGP: What’s all this criticism about?

Since its launch, SailGP has been on a mission to increase its audience. By using the sport, changes were made to heighten interest beyond the sailing fan. Some of this has been done with the racing format, but it has always been about increasing performance. Speed sells.

However, an undeniable fact is high speed leads to danger, and while the league preaches safety, the 2026 season has had accidents and injury. While great for video clips, collisions reduce the fleet size which reduces interest. Tired of the chatter, SailGP CEO Russell Coutts went on the defense in a five-minute video. Here are some excerpts:

When we started SailGP, we did some engagement studies with an audience using real racing footage, which was from one of our races in Chicago. The understanding of the races was one of the key barriers with attracting new fans. So, the more understandable you can make it, the better.

The first reach after the start to the first turning mark is an exciting part of the race for any fan. You don’t need to be a sailing fan to understand it. Whereas, if you start upwind and the boats hit off in opposite directions, I can guarantee you that to any new sports fan or racing fan that hasn’t actually had any experience with sailing, they’ll be confused.

So really, what’s all this criticism about? It is about a couple of so-called journalists trying to bring down SailGP. Why? Because they think by bringing down SailGP, they’re going to enhance their favorite product called the America’s Cup. (But) to enhance the America’s Cup is to improve it. Is to fix it. Is to make it better.

The way to enhance the America’s Cup is not to bring SailGP down, and even if they tried, they’re not going to be successful anyway. SailGP has grown too big for that now. So, either way, their criticism is going to basically fail and they should actually try and think through their (opinion) if they want to be considered experts in the sport, they should try and think through things a little bit more deeply than what they have.

The key to (avoiding collisions) is that the teams maintain a good look out, that they know that other boats are there. That was the main reason for the collision in New York, and that’s one of the fundamental rules of basically any seafaring. … If you’re racing under the racing rules, you’re obligated to keep a lookout and that was really the problem. So, we are going to take stapes to make sure that the teams will be keeping a lookout in the future.

SailGP information – Halifax details – How to watch

Season 6 Results (after 6 of 13 events)
1. Australia, Tom Slingsby (AUS), 2-1-5-1-1-1, 55 points
2. Great Britain, Dylan Fletcher (GBR), 1-2-2-12-4-2, 44
3. United States, Taylor Canfield (USA), 5-7-1-4-7-6, 36
4. Spain, Diego Botin (ESP), 12-3-3-2-2-12, 34
5. France, Quentin Delapierre (FRA), 3-4*-13-8-9-4, 32
6. Sweden, Nathan Outteridge (AUS), 4-5-9-3-11-5, 29
7. Germany, Erik Heil (GER), 9-6-8-6-3-11, 23
8. Denmark, Nicolai Sehested (DEN), 8-9-6-5-7, 22
9. Canada, Giles Scott (CAN/GBR), 6-10-11-10-6-3, 20
10. Italy, Phil Robertson (NZL), 7-13-4-7-8-9, 20
11. Switzerland, Sébastien Schneiter (SUI), 11-12-10-11-5-8, 10
12. Brazil, Martine Grael (BRA), 10-11-7-9-12-10, 8
13. New Zealand, Peter Burling (NZL), 13-8-12-13-13-13, 2
* Received compensation points for Sydney due to boat damage in Event 2.

Season 6 – 2026 Schedule:
• Jan 17-18 – Perth, Australia
• Feb 14-15 – Auckland, New Zealand
• Feb 28-March 1 – Sydney, Australia
• Apr 11-12  – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• May 9-10 – Hamilton, Bermuda
• May 30-31 – New York, USA
• June 20-21 – Halifax, Canada
• July 25-26- Portsmouth, GBR
• August 22-23 – Sassnitz, Germany
• Sept 5-6 – Valencia, Spain
• Sept 19-20 – Geneva, Switzerland
• Nov 21-22 – Dubai, UAE
• Nov 28-29 – Abu Dhabi, UAE
Note: The 11th event was moved to Geneva from Saint-Tropez, France.

Season 6 format:
• Thirteen teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event is two days.
• All teams compete in up to seven qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race for the event title.
• The season ends with the Grand Final event which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing.
• All teams are privately owned except for New Zealand which is owned by the league.

Season 6 prize money:
A total of USD $12.8 million is up for grabs in 2026. The winner of each of the 13 events takes home $400,000, with $260,000 for second and $140,000 for third. The team with the most points at the end of the season wins $400,000, while the team that wins the Championship Final Race wins USD $2 million.

F50 Configuration:
All teams use same configuration based on weather forecast. There are four wingsail sizes (18m, 24m, 27.5m, and 29m), six jib sizes, two T-foil daggerboards (high-speed and low-speed), and one set of rudders with high-speed and low-speed settings.

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.