Andy Rice

Andy Rice

—Senior Contributor

Andy did his first interview while he was campaigning a 470 dinghy on the Olympic circuit. It was a windless ‘no sailing’ day at Hyeres Olympic Regatta in 1990, just a few months after the Berlin Wall came down, with East German sailing star and multiple gold medallist Jochen Schumann. He has been writing about sailing ever since. Andy still races actively today in the one-man Musto Skiff fleet, although the day job is very much writing and live commentating across a range of events around the world. As well as working at the past five Olympic Games, going back to Beijing 2008, Andy has reported at the America’s Cup, The Ocean Race, the Vendée Globe among many other grand prix regattas. Since the start of 2025 he has been writing for The Athletic/New York Times, reporting on the SailGP circuit. At the less glamorous end of the sport Andy also maintains active links with the grass roots dinghy scene as the organiser of the Selden Sailjuice Winter Series, for all those mad dogs and nutters that still want to go racing in the coldest, darkest months of the Great British winter.

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Denmark is top dog in Friday practice session in Valencia

Friday’s practice racing at the Spain Sail Grand Prix in Valencia offered an interesting glimpse into the 13-boat fleet’s form in light, marginal-foiling breeze. There were three races each for Groups A and B. With conditions...

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Rate the fleet: Andy Rice on Sassnitz SailGP

Despite the gusty, squally conditions on Saturday, Sassnitz repeated the Portsmouth miracle of 13 boats starting the weekend and all 13 completing the weekend. The split fleet racing between Groups A and B really seems to be...

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Black Foils dominate practice day in Sassnitz

The Black Foils from New Zealand set the benchmark on the waters off Sassnitz, after a three-race practice session on Friday afternoon in marginal foiling conditions. Pete Burling’s crew dominated Group A with a 1-1-2 record...

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Andy Rice: A good Worlds for GBR, and a good Worlds for the 470 Class

The future of the 470 as an Olympic class is under scrutiny, as it is for the Nacra 17 catamaran and the men’s and women’s kiteboarding classes. All of them have their obvious weaknesses, the 470 being that it is now the oldest...

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Andy Rice: Slowly does it on the Solent obstacle course

Could there be anything better than racing at the 200th edition of Cowes Week? Especially with the drought-inducing weather that the UK has been basking under lately. For years I’ve been resisting the invite of my old friend,...

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Ainslie gets back on the water for Cowes Week

When I interviewed Ben Ainslie recently for The Foil, he told me he rarely gets a chance to jump in a sailing boat these days. In fact, he couldn’t recall a time that he’s been sailing since the last race of the America’s Cup...

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Rate the fleet: Andy Rice on Portsmouth SailGP

Portsmouth is the first time we’ve seen all 13 teams complete a SailGP weekend – whilst avoiding any serious injuries to the sailors or breakage to the F50s. A really solid weekend for the league; actually more than that,...

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Lowkey start for Emirates GBR in Portsmouth practice

In the spiritual home of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, England expects, along with the rest of Great Britain, that Dylan Fletcher and Emirates GBR will do their duty on home waters in Portsmouth this weekend.  Dylan Fletcher...

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Five things to watch out for at Portsmouth SailGP

Here are five things to watch out for this weekend as 13 F50s line up for competition at the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth. Not wanting to put the commentator’s curse on the weekend, but right now the...

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Why refereeing SailGP is just getting harder

Chief umpire Craig Mitchell and his team of online adjudicators have been busier than usual this season of SailGP, partly because there are now 13 teams competing on what are often very congested race courses. “We’ve been looking...

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Andy Rice: Learning to fly at Foiling Week

They thought it was funny when they put me on the front of an ETF26 foiling catamaran and left me to work out what the hell I was meant to do next. I had just jumped off the rib driven by reserve sailor Justin Busuttil to take...

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Soft breeze, hard format equals tough Kiel Week

While Kieler Woche, aka Kiel Week, is still going until the weekend with the participation of the Corinthian classes, the Olympic half of this massive regatta in north Germany is done. In its 140 year history, the 2026 edition...

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Andy Rice rates the fleet after Canada SailGP

Finished: 1st It might have been a very different position in the rankings for Spain if Diego Botín had failed to thread the needle. Los Gallos’ move at the start of Race 3 in Group A was the ‘move of the season’. With six events...

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Rate the fleet: Andy Rice's verdict on SailGP New York

Finished: 1stOf Australia’s three back-to-back victories, the win in New York was by far the messiest and most surprising. For surviving the technical curveballs thrown their way both on Saturday and before the start on Sunday,...

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New York: A whole season in one weekend?

Here we are in New York City, so why was the name of another city – Auckland – on the lips of all the sailors I interviewed this morning? Because Saturday is looking like it’s going to be windy, with the potential for heinous...

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