How do you describe a British summer?

It’s been three years since the SailGP has visited the United Kingdom, but the sports league will be in Portsmouth on July 19-20. However, the Met Office has issued a thunderstorm warning with heavy rain predicted for the venue through the first day. For the shoreside crowds 20,000 strong, there is no ticket refund if the first race gets started.

Is it redundant to mention bad weather in Great Britain? Maybe…

What’s the difference between a British summer and a British winter?
In winter, the rain is colder.

Why don’t Brits make plans?
Because the weather already made them.

How do you describe a British summer?
The best day of the year!

If you don’t like the British weather, just wait five minutes… and it’ll probably get worse!

The races will be held at 4:00-5:30pm BST (11:00am-12:30pm EDT). For each team’s crew roster, click here.

SailGP information – Portsmouth event – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 6 events)
1. Spain – Diego Botin, 46 points
2. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 45 points
3. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 44 points
4. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 41 points
5. Canada – Giles Scott, 38 points
6. France – Quintin Delapierre, 36 points*
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 20 points
8. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 14 points**
9. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 13 points
10. Brazil – Martine Grael, 9 point**
11. Germany – Erik Heil, 0 points**
12. United States – Taylor Canfield, 0 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).
• The league currently maintains control ownership of the teams based in Denmark, New Zealand, and Spain, though it’s actively in the process of selling the Spanish team.

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.