SailGP: First season guide - Anna Barth: "It's going to be very exciting!"
Tatjana Pokorny
· 06.01.2026
The sixth SailGP season starts Down Under. The first three of a total of 13 events will take place in Perth/Fremantle, in Auckland, New Zealand (14/15 February) and in the former Olympic metropolis of Sydney (28/2/1 March). The event will continue with the Rio SailGP premiere (11/12 April), which was cancelled last year, in the picture-book sailing waters of Bermuda (9/10 May), in New York (30/31 May) and in Halifax, Canada (20/21 June).
SailGP: to Europe in summer
Then the European phase begins, in which the Germany SailGP Team rose like a phoenix from the ashes last year after a botched start to the season and on Lake Geneva, the historic first team victory. The four European events will take place in Portsmouth (25/26 July) and for the second time in Sassnitz (22/23 August), Click here for ticket sales), in Spain (no venue and date yet) and in Saint-Tropez (12/13 September).
At the penultimate event in Dubai (21/22 November), the preliminary decisions for the grand finale of the 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship will be made: The Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix beckons just one week later on 28 and 29 November. Prize money of at least 12.8 million US dollars will be paid out over the entire season. So far, two million US dollars have gone to the winners alone, while the team with the most points has received 400,000 US dollars up to the final. The league has not yet confirmed whether the sums will remain the same or whether even more will be paid out.
Following the entry of the Swedish team Artemis Racing with star helmsman Nathan Outteridge (Australia) and a select crew, 13 teams will take part in a SailGP season for the first time in 2026. The "newcomers" are not so new, as their players bring a lot of experience to the game. Nathan Outteridge has already sailed for a wide variety of teams in SailGP season zero and beyond. The 2012 Olympic 49er champion and 2026 silver medallist also has two Moth World Championship titles on his list of successes.
The favourites for the sixth SailGP season
Nathan Outteridge has succeeded in convincing Swedish America's Cup chaser and regatta enthusiast Torbjörn Törnquist to join SailGP, after both have already competed in two America's Cup campaigns with Artemis Racing. The quality of this team is not only ensured by the sailing athletes, but also in the background by the technology company Artemis Technologies and the British team CEO Iain Percy, himself an Olympic champion in the Finn Dinghy and Starboat. In addition, top wing trimmer Chris Draper and flight controller Andy Maloney should and want to make the blue and yellows fast.
The favourites for season six once again include the British defending champions from Team Emirates GBR, Tom Slingsby's Australian Bonds Flying Roos and Peter Burling's New Zealand Black Foils. The three podium teams of the fifth season are just as ready for the new season as the 2024 champions: Spain's Los Gallos are likely to remain a strong force in the SailGP with reigning 49er Olympic champions Diego Botin and Florian Trittel, even if the competition is growing and the younger teams are getting better and better.
With their new team manager and experienced America's Cup coach Philippe Presti, France's Les Bleus are also aiming for the SailGP podium. Presti describes the winners of the Sassnitz premiere last August as a "fantastic group". Known as the coach of the Italian America's Cup team Luna Rossa, Philippe Presti has now left Red Bull Italy in the SailGP to take on the French home team.
Team Germany kicks off its third season
The 60-year-old two-time Finn Gold Cup winner and Olympic participant Presti will be responsible for the sports division, while the two co-CEOs Stephan Kandler and Bruno Dubois will take care of the team's finances, partners and commercial strategy. The reigning Moto World Champion Enzo Bellanger has joined the team in a reserve position. Philippe Presti says: "Performance will come from the ingredients we put on the table. The aim is to get the lows out of our game. I find that exciting."
The Germany SailGP Team is also looking forward to the start of the season Down Under. After around one and a half months of "winter break", during which she mainly kept fit in the gym, Kiel-based strategist Anna Barth said: "I definitely feel ready for the new season and am really looking forward to it. I think it will be very exciting. There have been a lot of changes in the crews and it will be exciting to see how the teams settle into the new season."
Naturally, this also applies to the team around helmsman Erik Kosegarten-Heil. Anna Barth said: "I'm also excited to see how things will go with our new wing trimmer Kevin." Frenchman Kevin Peponnet has joined the team as wing trimmer for Stuart Bithell. The Briton had previously switched to his SailGP home team Emirates GBR.
Three training days for the teams at the start of the season
Anna Barth said: "Kevin has a slightly different skillset to what we have experienced so far. He is even more technical and focussed on the boat itself. Stu had also taken on quite a lot in terms of communication, which wasn't always what we wanted. But that was due to his nature and also the fact that he already knew the boat when we started the SailGP."
There was good news for all teams ahead of the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix: the prospect of pre-practice! "We have a total of three training days and then Friday with practice races, as usual. Tuesday is our first sailing day. We'll be there in the evening from 9 January, then have a few more days on site to acclimatise and also for meetings and just some team time together."
Anna Barth also knows: "I think the new Swedish team will make it very exciting. They are simply well organised. Let's see how they do in the first events." With a view to the often crisp winds in the Fremantle/Perth area, Anna Barth said: "I think it's going to be a windy week. I think we will probably sail with the small wings and the small foils. It will be very fast. And I've also been told there are a lot of sharks in Perth."
We can get ready for some action pictures." Anna Barth
The Germany SailGP team looks back on the two starkly different half-seasons in 2025 optimistic and looking forward to the new season. Anna Barth remembers: "Last season ended with often very light winds. Sometimes I wasn't on board at all. When I was on board, I always had to grind. I really enjoy that too. I really like the role because I also trim the jib and am a bit more involved in the technical sailing of the boat. But now I'm also very happy to be back in the back of the boat behind Erik and to have a more strategic overview, to take on my classic role again."
Anna Barth: doubly active Down Under
She is curious to see how she herself will get back into the regular job of strategist and said: "I haven't done this for a long time, but I've prepared well and I'm really looking forward to it. I feel well prepared." Anna Barth is also pursuing a second mission Down Under at the start of the year, which will follow on directly from the first SailGP event of the year: Together with Emma Kohlhoff, who is also part of the German racing team, the 49erFX helmswoman also wants to make progress with her crew's Olympic ambitions.
The two U21 world champions from 2024, who made the leap into the international elite last year with tenth place in the senior Olympic field, have their sights set on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. They have the chance to train with the Australian national team in Sydney before the second SailGP event of the year takes place there in February.
Anna Barth explains: "The Australian 49erFX teams are some of the strongest in the world. Training with them is a unique opportunity for our sporting development. The plan is for us to sail in Australia from 19 January to 8 February. We have initiated crowdfunding to finance this project. Our aim is to spread the financial requirements of around €8,000 across as many shoulders as possible. We can achieve this by raising €280 in 28 instalments. Every contribution brings us a little closer to this valuable measure."
SailGP: Clips for "preheating"
While the racing team of entrepreneur Thomas Riedel, four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian and Vettel and other investors are warming up for the new season, the team is also releasing little clips to "preheat". Like this one with the sentence to be completed "SailGP is...". Or "The three tips for the next season". And here is the team overview for the new season.
