Five things to know ahead of SailGP round five in Bermuda

The SailGP circus rolls into Bermuda for the fifth round of season six, returning to The Great Sound for the fourth time in the league’s history on 9-10 May.

Fresh off Rio’s debut at hosting the league, the fleet arrives in Bermuda with stories aplenty. An Australian team in dominant form, a British squad with plenty to prove, and a supplemented French squad looking to step up. Here are five things to know ahead of the weekend.

Delapierre’s team will yet again contract the help of Kiwi strategist Liv Mackay and Australian super-sub Glenn Ashby. The pair stand in as replacements for injured team members Manon Audinet and Leigh McMillan.

Despite both Mackay and Ashby being top of their class, the nature of them slotting into a team last-minute in Rio may mean that we did not see France’s full potential as a result.

The supplemented team now head into the weekend with six races under their belt from Rio; it would have been seven if it weren’t for a black flag disqualification in the last. The revived unit will be looking to turn the results up a notch or two.

Everyone at The Foil wishes both Audinet and McMillan, and Kiwi Louis Sinclair, all the best in their continued recoveries. We hope to see their return to racing as soon as possible.

One of the biggest upsets from Rio’s first hosting of the league was reigning season champions Emirates Great Britain finishing in a disappointing last place.

The Brits failed to log a result outside of the bottom three with the exception of a lacklustre sixth place in race four. The event was the first time the team had failed to be in a three-boat final since Geneva in 2025.

They will be expected to mark a return as leading contenders in Bermuda, and I’m sure driver Dylan Fletcher’s upbeat attitude will serve as a springboard back to winning ways.

Fletcher said, “What I am really proud of is that the team came out fighting today. There was no anger on board. We kept the team together. We had each other's backs. We were doing everything we could to get a good result. We just couldn't get it together."

Although the team has changed since, Bermuda 2021 was the British team’s first event win in SailGP. They’ll be counting on returning to that form this weekend.

Following their shocking collision with DS Automobiles SailGP Team France, the Black Foils are yet to mark a return to racing since their home event in Auckland.

The vast extent of the damage means that SailGP Technologies has the mammoth task of building a new F50 in order to get the Kiwis back on the water. It looks like Halifax is the first realistic chance of that.

The Black Foils shared this statement on 1 May: “A final return date for the Black Foils is still being worked on by the team in conjunction with SailGP but the Halifax event remains a clear target for everyone involved.”

Contrast Rio’s flukey conditions around Sugarloaf Mountain with Bermuda’s flat island landscape, and it is expected that we will see very different conditions from what we saw in South America.

Historically, we’ve seen flat water and strong wind conditions in Bermuda - the perfect recipe for the high-octane racing we love. Whatever the wind speed or sea state in Bermuda, it’s expected that we’ll see more predictable conditions than in Rio.

That means a more straightforward day for the strategists, but more stable winds could mean that we see the boats being pushed closer to their limits.

There have been crashes at this venue before, and with more boats on the start line than SailGP’s last visit in 2024, there is guaranteed to be a good share of elbows-out racing.

In SailGP’s second season, Nathan Outteridge, driving for the Japanese at the time, used USA’s side stay like a piece of cheese wire as Outteridge sliced a hole through the starboard hull of his Japanese F50.

The collision resulted in steering issues for the Americans, leading to an eventual capsize. All sailors were accounted for and uninjured.

SailGP obviously have the option of splitting the fleet in two if necessary, as we saw on Sunday in Auckland. Whatever the format, whatever the weather, we hope the racing will be clean, fair and safe for everyone involved.

It could be said that the F50s are returning to their birthplace. The foiling multihulls used by the league are an evolution of the AC50 catamarans used for The America’s Cup held in the British Overseas Territory back in 2017.

Before the damage to the French F50 following the shocking collision with the Black Foils in Auckland, France’s SailGP platform was built from the Emirates Team New Zealand AC50, which challenged and won the 35th America's Cup in Bermuda.

The AC50 was sold to SailGP with the hull layout converted to fit the one-design F50 rules we know today.

Following France’s return to racing in Rio, the boat is now a complex concoction of carbon fibre. Still intact is the original starboard hull of the AC50 that won the 2017 America's Cup with Emirates Team New Zealand. The port hull was salvaged from what remained of the Black Foils' F50 wreckage. An impressive operation from SailGP Technologies, who are busy constructing a new platform for the Kiwis.

Bermuda is a special place in SailGP’s story, and round five promises to be no different. Australia arrive as the team to beat, bolstered by a perfect Sunday in Rio, whilst Great Britain will be desperate to remind the fleet why they are reigning champions.

Factor in the supplemented French team with a weekend of racing in the bag and the familiar surroundings of The Great Sound, and there is plenty to keep an eye on as we edge closer to the event.

Whatever unfolds, Bermuda rarely disappoints.