English success in the F50 final over Australia and New Zealand; best result of the year for Italy with Robertson. From 2026 contracts, exchanges and loans like in football
The fifth season of SailGP, the international circuit reserved for the very fast F50 catamarans, came to an end with the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix: in a final between the three crews who had closed the series of eleven stages, the title went to the English Emirates GBR who overcame the Australians of Bonds Flying Roots and the New Zealanders of Black Foils in a very tight race. It was the trio that after the previous stage, in Cadiz, was expected at the final act and so it was. For Emirates GBR, captained by Dylan Fletcher (one of Luna Rossa’s ‘executors’ in the last Louis Vuitton Cup final), it is the first success in the Sail GP, obtained against very strong opponents. Bonds Flying Roots was skippered by Tom Slingsby – the strongest Australian sailor of the modern era – and leading Black Foils was Peter Burling, Mr. America’s Cup and new addition to Patrizio Bertelli’s team. As expected, the Abu Dhabi event was characterized by extremely light winds with the F50s rarely ‘flying’. Although SailGP had prepared for the eventuality by introducing new generation foils, which perform better in low air conditions together with a larger sail which facilitates take-off. The technical innovations limited the damage but in any case the show was not top-notch.
Red Bull Italy
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The (many) fans of Ruggero Tita – twice Olympic gold medalist and therefore undisputed champion – will not be happy, but the replacement with the New Zealander Phil Robertson (former Team Canada driver) led to the best performance of the entire season for Red Bull who also brought on board Jana Germani (Italian from the 49er fx class) in the role of strategist in place of Maelle Frascari. Red Bull Italy finished the first day in third position with an eighth, a fourth, a third and a seventh place. In the second, in the only two races completed, a fifth and a sixth place allowed the team led by James Spithill to climb onto the second step of the podium behind the clear winner Team Rockwool – skippered by the Danish Nicolai Sehested – and ahead by three points of France led by Quentin Delapierre. A great result for the Italian team, considering the very few satisfactions during the year which still resulted in a disappointing tenth place finish. “It was nice to finally show the team’s potential. Now the goal is to focus on next season and how we can improve even more” said Phil Robertson who showed once again that he is very good on the F.50s.
Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix
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Once the 2025 circuit is closed, we start to think about next year’s circuit which starts in Australia, on 17 and 18 January, with the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix. SailGP has announced a package of innovations that could mark a turning point in professional sailing. For the 2026 season it will introduce an official system to manage contracts, transfers and loans of athletes: something that introduces a sort of “market sail”. Until now, teams built their squad season by season, within fairly strict nationality rules. Now things are changing: the contracts will be long-term, but with real transfer windows within which the teams will be able to “exchange” the athletes by finding the agreement of both teams participating in the exchange and with the approval of the sailor. Long-term contracts will thus take on an economic value, which can also give rise to continuous exchanges or multi-million dollar loan periods. After all, the figures at stake in the SailGP are starting to be important: in addition to the success he took home two million euros in Abu Dhabi alone and almost four and a half million in the season.
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