While we shiver in the big freeze here in the UK, the Emirates GBR SailGP team head down under for the first event of season 6.
Sir Ben Ainslie’s Emirates GBR finished 2025 top of the table and after a crew shuffle, which saw Stuart Bithell replace Iain Jensen as Wing Trimmer, will want to bed in the new line-up with a flying start.
Bithell should slot in seamlessly . . . he joins his 49er Olympic gold medal-winning partner Dylan Fletcher (skipper/helm), Hannah Mills (strategist), flight controller Luke Parkinson and grinders Neil Hunter and Nick Hutton.
This could be something of a Groundhog Day for Fletcher and Bithell.
Back in February 2019 Fletcher and Bithell went straight from winning 49er silver at the Hempel World Cup in Miami, to join the British SailGP team for the first event of the inaugural Sail GP season F50 multihull circuit on Sydney Harbour.
There they faced just five teams: Australia, China, France, Japan and the United States.
The result was a third place behind Tom Slingsby’s Australia SailGP team, who scored a dream finish victory with a 38 second win over Team Japan SailGP of skipper Nathan Outteridge in the first ever Final Match Race of the new series.
Interesting that in 2019 Sailweb reported that . . . In an apparent effort to talk-up interest for the Sydney regatta, Aussie skipper Tom Slingsby claimed he expected havoc – ‘Carnage on Sydney Harbour is almost inevitable’ . . . Somethings never change!
From that five-team start in 2019 the SailGP circuit has expanded to 13 teams competing at 13 venues in 2026.
First up for 2026 it’s the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix in Fremantle, Australia on 17–18 January 2026.
Then over to New Zealand for the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland on 14-15 February 2026.
The 2019 Great Britain SailGP team comprised: Manager and wing trimmer Chris Draper, helmsman Dylan Fletcher, flight controller Stuart Bithell, and grinders Matt Gotrel and Richard Mason.
SailGP Teams 2026
1 GBR – Emirates Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher
2 CAN – NorthStar – Giles Scott
3 AUS – BONDS Flying Roos – Tom Slingsby
4 DEN – Rockwool Racing – Nicolai Sehested
5 SUI – Switzerland SailGP – Sébastien Schneiter
6 FRA – France SailGP – Quentin Delapierre
7 ESP – Los Gallos – Diego Botin
8 NZL – Black Foils – Peter Burling
9 ITA – Red Bull Italy – Ruggero Tita
10 BRA – Mubadala Brazil – Martine Grael
11 GER – Germany by Deutsche Bank – Erik Heil
12 USA – United States SailGP – Taylor Canfield
13 SWE – Artemis SailGP – Nathan Outteridge
Related Post:
Podium finish for Great Britain SailGP Team in Sydney (2019)
Fletcher and Bithell head to Sydney for inaugural SailGP event (2019)
Changing Places – Stuart Bithell to join SailGP Emirates GBR for 2026
