Emirates GBR SailGP Team has landed in Portsmouth and marked its arrival by abseiling one of the city’s most prominent landmarks – the Spinnaker Tower.
Emirates GBR Wing Trimmer Stuart Bithell MBE and Development Sailor Kai Hockley took on the challenge of abseiling the 170-metre tower, and following the experience the pair both stated they preferred being on-board the Emirates GBR F50 race boat travelling at speeds of over 100km/h (54 kts).
Speaking as he landed back on solid ground, Bithell said: “That was wild! It was pretty windy up there, but it was cool, scary, but cool. I’d much rather take being on an F50 at 100km/h than doing that again. Hopefully we get a breeze like that next weekend when we’re racing—just preferably out on the water rather than halfway down a building.”
The Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth takes place over the weekend of the 25-26 July.
The South Coast will welcome 13 national teams to its shores, who will all compete in identical 50ft foiling catamarans which hit speeds of over 100km/h. More than 20,000 spectators are expected across the weekend.
It’s a crucially important event for the home team, who currently sit third on the 2026 Season leaderboard, behind Spain’s Los Gallos in second and Australia’s BONDS Flying Roos in first.
British Team helm Dylan Fletcher said: “The pressure feels like it’s mounting on our shoulders coming into our home event, but we love that and that’s what we’re here for. Pressure is a privilege and we’re looking forward to getting off that start line and seeing the crowd in the even bigger grandstand than last year – it’s going to be wild.”
Emirates GBR CEO Sir Ben Ainslie said last year’s Portsmouth event was “quite a transitional moment” for the team.
“This season for Emirates GBR has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride to be honest,” he said. “We’ve had some fantastic wins, we’ve had a last place, and trying to find that consistency has been a challenge for the team. But last season, we came out really on fire and then mid-season we were struggling a little bit and Portsmouth was quite a transitional moment for our season, so we’re hoping for more of the same this season.”
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