Sail GP Championship: All you need to know

The SailGP Championship is well underway once more, as some of the world's finest sailors take to the seas in action-packed races around the globe.

What is the SailGP Championship

The SailGP Championship is a year-long competition for F50 catamarans with 12 teams racing all across the globe to land one of sailing's most prestigious prizes.

The F50s, modified versions of the AC50s formerly used in the Americas Cup, are one of the fastest classes in the sport with boats reaching speeds of just over 100km per hour given the right conditions.

Events and Dates

The race calendar for the 2024/25 SailGP championship is a 12-month campaign running from November 2024 to November 2025.

It started in Dubai in November last year and will finish in Abu Dhabi on 30th November when the top three teams from over the course of the season will contest the Grand Final.

Round	Title (venue)	Dates
1	Emirates Dubai SailGP	Nov 23-24, 2024
2	ITM New Zealand SailGP (Auckland)	Jan 18-19, 2025
3	KPMG Australia SailGP (Sydney)	Feb 8-9
4	Rolex Los Angeles SailGP	Mar 15-16
5	Oracle San Francisco SailGP	Mar 22-23
6	Mubadala New York SailGP	June 7-8
7	Emirates Great Britain SailGP (Portsmouth)	July 19-20
8	Germany SailGP (Sassnitz)	Aug 16-17
9	Rockwool International France SailGP (St Tropez)	Sep 12-13
10	Rolex Switzerland SailGP (Geneva)	Sep 20-21
11	Spain SailGP (Cadiz)	Oct 4-5
12	TBA (Middle East)	Nov 7-8
13	Mubadala Abu Dhabi SailGP	Nov 29-30

Scoring explained

Each event hosts up to seven fleet races (conditions depending) with 10 points awarded to the winner of each race, nine for second, eight for third and so on. The teams finishing 11th and 12th get no points.

At the end of the seven races there is a Final race for the top three ranked teams. At that point the Event Leaderboard produces the Championship Leaderboard, again with 10 points for the top-ranked team, nine for second and so on with 11th and 12th again receiving nothing.

The Championship Leaderboard is the leaderboard used for the overall scoring system, teams can also be penalised points for technical issues or offences during races.

Crew Roles

The F50s have a crew of six. The helm, or driver, is effectively the key decision-maker and, as the name suggests, drives the boat.

He or she will lean on the flight controller, whose job it is to constantly adjust the daggerboards to try to ensure the boat is at its most efficient.

The wing trimmer will be the key decision maker on which sail to use and to adjust the settings on the wing throughout the race, basically for optimum speed.

All three crew members will be leaning on information constantly being supplied them by the strategist, who is using abundant tech to monitor the big picture.

The two grinders - one facing forward, the other back - are the most physical positions on the boat. The grinders have to turn the winches to change the sails which means constantly turning handles for the duration of the race. 

Teams

There are 12 teams taking part in the 2024/25 SailGP Championship.

Team	Helm
BONDS Flying Roos (Australia)	Tom Slingsby
Mubadala Brazil	Martine Grael
NorthStar (Canada)	Giles Scott
Rockwool Racing (Denmark)	Nicolai Sehested
France	Quentin Delapierre
Emirates Great Britain	Dylan Fletcher
Germany Deutsche Bank	Erik Heil
Red Bull Italy	Ruggero Tita
Black Foils (New Zealand)	Peter Burling
Spain	Diego Botin
Switzerland	Sebastian Schneiter
United States	Taylor Canfield

Prize Money

There is a $12.8m prize fund for the 2024/25 SailGP Championship. A whopping $2m of that fund is available to just the top three teams who contest the Grand Final in Abu Dhabi in November.

Each event winner gets $200,000 with $120,000 for second and $80,000 for third.

Previous Winners

This is the fifth edition of the SailGP Championship with only two helms - Australia's Tom Slingsby and Spain's Diego Botin - having triumphed before.

Year	Winner	Helm
2019	Australia	Tom Slingsby
2021/22	Australia	Tom Slingsby
2022/23	Australia	Tom Slingsby
2023/24	Spain	Diego Botin