SailGP: Start of the season in Dubai - new teams, new drivers, new coaches
Tatjana Pokorny
· 21.11.2024
The personnel carousel in the fast-paced professional league SailGP has been spinning faster and faster of late. The fifth season of the racing series begins on 23 and 24 November in Dubai with new teams, new drivers, new coaches, a larger field and more events between the starting signal now and the season finale at the end of November 2025.
Millions in prize money in the SailGP
Launched in 2018 by five-time America's Cup winner and Olympic champion Russell Coutts and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the SailGP continues to expand in the new season: twelve teams - more than ever before - will be on the starting line this year. They are expected to compete in 14 events for the event titles and the season championship, which will be decided at the final on 29 and 30 November 2025 in Abu Dhabi.
The teams from Germany, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Brazil, Italy, Canada, France, Denmark, Switzerland and the defending champions from Spain will compete for prize money totalling around seven million US dollars (around 6.64 million euros) in the 2024/2025 season. The season championship alone, for which the top three teams will compete in the triple final, is worth two million US dollars.
They are sailed on F50 catamarans. These fast foilers can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour and can be up to four times as fast as the wind. In order to adapt to the different wind and weather conditions, the F50 catamarans are equipped with three different wing sizes: 18 metres, 24 metres and 29 metres. Their deployment is decided daily - usually on the evening before the start of the race - for all teams at the same time.
Second SailGP competition: Focus on sustainability
In addition to racing on the water, another competition takes place under the SailGP umbrella with the Sustainability League, in which the teams collect points with their measures and special projects and also compete for a season title, the best places and prize money. The series describes itself as follows: "SailGP is a dynamic and revolutionary sports league that showcases the best sailing talent, cutting-edge technology and a commitment to a sustainable future."
The new season will be sailed in Dubai next weekend, in Auckland (18/19 January), Sydney (8/9 February), Los Angeles (15/16 March), San Francisco (22/23 March), Rio de Janeiro (3-4 May), New York (7/8 June), Portsmouth (19/20 July), Sassnitz (16/17 August), Taranto (6/7 September), Geneva (20/21 September), Geneva (20/21 September), Portsmouth (19/20 July), Sassnitz (16/17 August), Taranto (6/7 September), Geneva (20/21 September), Geneva (20/21 September), Geneva (20/21 September), Sassnitz (16/17 August) and Taranto (6/7 September)./8 June), Portsmouth (19/20 July), Sassnitz (16/17 August), Taranto (6/7 September), Geneva (20/21 September), Cadiz (4/5 October), the Middle East (7/8 November) and Abu Dhabi (29/30 November).
What's new this season? For example, the driver from Emirates Great Britain has changed teams: Double Olympic champion Giles Scott is sailing for Canada this season. Sir Ben Ainslie's co-pilot Dylan Fletcher is returning to the British team as helmsman - fresh from the America's Cup. Not yet at the start, but on site in Dubai is the French team led by Quentin Delapierre. Les Bleus will only return to the SailGP at the second event in the new year in Auckland, where they are still waiting for the new F50 catamaran.
America's Cup celebrities at the SailGP
The latest prominent SailGP signings include Italy's America's Cup pilot Francesco Bruni as head coach for the Rockwool Racing SailGP Team from Denmark. New to the crew around Danish helmsman Nicolai Sehested is Ed Powys, who has already won the series with the Australia SailGP Team. The New Zealand flight controller Andy Malony had already switched to the new Mubadala Brazil team.
With the Mubadala Brazil Team, a female driver will be on the starting line for the first time: Double Olympic champion Martine Grael is stepping on the gas in the Formula 1 of sailing. With her latest challenge, the multi-talented sailor, who has also competed in an ocean race around the world, is conquering new territory. Never before has a woman driven one of the F50 racers in SailGP races.
Like all newcomers to the 14-event global SailGP series, Martine Grael will need time to climb the ladder. Martine Grael attributes the roots of her previous successes in international sailing more to her youth than to her family DNA and the seven Olympic medals won by her father Torben Grael (5) and uncle Lars Grael (2).
When it gets tough, that's the best motivation for me." Martine Grael
Martine Grael says: "I grew up with an older brother and lots of boys. I travelled a lot with them in competitions when I was young." Now Martine Grael is challenging the "boys" again. Her SailGP opponents will be prominent drivers such as America's Cup dominator Peter Burling (New Zealand SailGP Team, "Black Foils"), the Australian SailGP record winner Tom Slingsby and also Erik Heil and the Germany SailGP Team.
Germany SailGP Team: "Hugely motivated"
After joining the team last season, the German racing team led by driver Erik Heil is focussing on crew continuity, persistent work and gradual advancement. "The first season was better than expected. I'm hugely motivated for the new season," says Erik Heil, who has been in Dubai with the Germany SailGP Team since last week and is making the most of every training opportunity there.
The crew around Erik Heil from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein includes strategist and 49erFX sailor Anna Barth, who grew up in Hamburg and competes for the Kieler Yacht-Club. Wing trimmer remains the British 49er Olympic champion Stuart Bithell. The Australian James Wierzbowski is the flight controller. For the grinder positions with additional duties, Jonas Knottnerus-Meyer from Kiel, Felix van den Hövel from Berlin and the new man on the SailGP starting line is Will Tiller from New Zealand, who has match racing experience and strong tactics.
The Germany SailGP team is ready for the new season with experienced Flensburg coach Lennart Briesenick and new coach Jacopo Plazzi Marzotto. The Italian comes from the America's Cup that has just ended in Barcelona, where he played an important role in the coaching team for the Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli as a technically very experienced co-coach alongside Philippe Presti and Hamish Dennits Willcox.
New ZDF documentary and live broadcast
Erik Heil says it's down to business at the weekend in the sailing super league, "with the fastest boats in the world and the best sailors in the world". "The races are over faster than you can blink," explains Anna Barth with a smile in the new ZDF documentary.
Co-owner and mentor Sebastian Vettel observed the team in its debut season and said before the start of the season in the new ZDF documentary "Die Formel 1 des Segelsports": "There are a lot of sensors on the sailing boats. The races are analysed. You can prepare the races. I think there are a lot of parallels from my time. I believe that Formula 1 is perhaps the spearhead in terms of data volume and analysis. And sailing can still learn a lot from that. And so I can also contribute a little bit."
"He sees things that you don't immediately notice. And he sees them with a clarity that makes you wonder afterwards: how did he actually come up with that? So this meticulous thinking about various topics. He has an absolutely competitive character. And a cool openness," is how Erik Heil describes the inspiring one-two with Sebastian Vettel in the ZDF documentary.
