Ranking the Fleet: Ricey's verdicts on SailGP Bermuda

Finished: 1st

Even if the Bonds Flying Roos couldn’t quite match that perfect Sunday in Rio - their dominant performance throughout the Bermuda weekend was outstanding. When Hollywood star and co-owner of the team Ryan Reynolds stepped on board for one of the practice races on breezy Friday, the Aussies even won that too, as Deadpool swore like a trooper and stumbled like Joe Biden across the back of the F50.

Flight controller Jason Waterhouse was hobbling around on the shore after rolling his ankle in training yet somehow held it together sufficiently for the weekend to contribute to the beautiful choreography that this team is able to produce through every manoeuvre around the race track. Even in marginal foiling conditions, the flying kangaroo looks steady and graceful, carrying a consistency of windward heel and nose-down attitude that only the Spanish can match.

Verdict: Another giant leap by the Roos

Finished: 3rd

Erik Kosegarten-Heil drove Germany by Deutsche Bank to its first podium performance of the season. The German victory in the drift-off of Lake Geneva last September was starting to feel like a distant memory, but Heil and the crew got their mojo back in Bermuda. This was a massive move up in performance for a team that has been quite invisible for the early part of the season. A perfectly executed start and subsequent race win in the third and final fleet race of Sunday was sufficient to launch them into the final alongside Australia and Spain. While a lacklustre start in the final meant they never had a chance of threatening the eventual winners, the Germans did close the gap on Spain just before the finish and were not far behind as they crossed in third. Heil was pleased with the weekend’s performance but told The Foil: “If we could learn how to start that would make life a lot easier. But we’re pretty in sync with how we sail the boat and also pretty in sync with the shifts and gusts around the racecourse. If we can nail the starts then we have chances for medals.”

Verdict: Best German performance so far this season

Finished: 5th

A new paint job and a new title sponsor, Explora Cruises, seemed to have galvanised the Swiss team and kicked them up to a higher level. They’ve been languishing at the back of the fleet all season, so to find themselves in the tight battle between 4th and 8th place is a a much-needed boost for Sebastien Schneiter and his team. As the Swiss skipper told The Foil: “The highlight for us was that last race. We were actually last at mark one, but we managed to sail through the fleet and gain a lot of positions. Other than that, the first two races were great, battling in the front of the fleet. And I think we stayed really calm today on board despite having some really stressful situations. So yeah, a lot of good signs for us.”

Verdict: Strong ability to climb through the fleet and fight for places in the front half of the pack

Finished: 2nd

The Spanish have barely put a foot wrong all season. A breakdown with the boat in Perth meant they missed the first event altogether, yet Diego Botin has driven the F50 so consistently since then that Los Gallos are in third overall, and just a point behind the British. Spain are currently the only boat who can match the Australians for speed and all-round composure on the race course. Stealing a race lead from Tom Slingsby in Race 3 on Saturday was a great confidence booster. However this season the Spanish have lacked that killer instinct in the three-boat final. Even Botin acknowledged this to The Foil. “The Aussies have a very nice strategy in the final, and this is an area we need to improve.” The other issue to address is the top-end starting. It worked big time for Spain in Race 5, but backfired badly at the start of Race 6 when Los Gallos ran out of space and had to tack around and do a 360 to spin round and cross the line far behind the fleet. Still, in the scheme of things these are tiny details. Spain have been on fire all season and Bermuda was another stellar performance.

Verdict: The class act continues

Finished: 6th

Little has been going right for NorthStar SailGP Team so far this season, and Giles Scott badly needed a morale-lifting performance in Bermuda. He ended up with an overall good performance, although not quite the result to reflect that. There was one moment where their fortunes turned from excellent to awful, and that was approaching the top of the course during  Race 6. Canada were foiling on starboard, on a collision course with Sweden who were slow and off the foil on port. Nathan Outteridge admitted to The Foil that he only saw Canada very late and was a sitting duck. Scott had to spin the wheel a boat length or two earlier than he probably would have liked to, in order to avoid a collision. The subsequent drop off the foils was disastrous, dropping Canada from 3rd at the time down to 12th as boat after boat foiled past them. If they had held on to a top four finish in that race it could well have been enough to get Scott into his first 2026 final. Even without the bad luck, however, Canada is still struggling to match the frontrunners for consistent, reliable foiling and manoeuvres in marginal conditions.

Verdict: Green shoots of recovery?

Finished: 9th

It’s hard to read too much into France’s ninth place in the first race of Bermuda. Glenn Ashby was doing the replacement role as wing trimmer for the injured Leigh McMillan but in the pre-start of Race 2, the experienced Australian broke his ankle during a high-speed turn. With France missing the next two races and bringing on Aussie reserve, Tom Needham, for the last race of Saturday, Quentin Delapierre never got a proper chance to show what he could do. Two third places on Sunday, followed by an 8th, was pretty impressive considering the substitutes on the team and the lack of continuity that this team has suffered this season. Delapierre is wondering when the bad fortune will end. Beneath all the unwanted headlines is a solid team still capable of challenging for the lead. France’s day will come.

Verdict: Bad luck keeps on getting in the way of French flair

Finished: 4th

As we’ve said a few times on the podcast, even when Emirates GBR seems like it’s had a bad event it still does alright. Dylan Fletcher emerged from the mid-fleet melée of Sunday in fourth overall. Not good enough for the final, which is what the British have come to expect as a matter of course; but fourth for a poor performance is really not too shabby. On Saturday the on-board comms betrayed Fletcher’s frustration at getting stuck in traffic. This is exactly the skill that Britain usually has in spades - finding open spaces on the race course for going fast and letting the boat rip. But they couldn’t hit their groove, nor is their boatspeed quite up to scratch at the moment. They suffered a similar downturn at more or less the same time last season, and went on to win. So nothing to worry about quite yet.

Verdict: Too soon to press the panic button

Finished: 7th

A year ago a seventh place would have been chalked up as a good performance for the US team. But not by the high standards Taylor Canfield’s crew have displayed in early 2026. It all started well enough on Saturday, winning the first race of the day and looking every bit like they deserved it. The rest of the day was pretty good too, ending up third overnight. But on Sunday, Canfield’s uncanny ability to get cleanly off the start line vanished. Scores of 10,10,9 sent the Americans plummeting down to seventh overall, albeit just two points behind the British in fourth.  

Verdict: The first wobble of the season, so nothing to worry about yet

Finished: 11th

When Artemis SailGP’s bowsprit snapped within seconds of starting Saturday’s sailing session, their weekend was ruined. When Sweden got back on the race course for Sunday, two fourth places suggest Nathan Outteridge and his crew were pretty much back on track, although a 10th in the final race was a disappointing conclusion to a very disappointing weekend. “Today was about just trying to get out there and sail the boat well,” Outteridge told The Foil on Sunday. “We really struggled on the starts today. It was a pretty tight starting box which made it pretty challenging, and if you're in the right spot you look great and if you're in the wrong spot it was really painful. But after that, we're doing a really good job of sailing through the fleet.” Outteridge sometimes pushes the limits of the rules and comes off worse from the umpires. This happened to him in Race 7, as discussed in the podcast.

Verdict: Not as dangerous as we thought they would be

Finished: 8th

Red Bull Italy scored a second in the final race of Saturday, unable to keep the hard-charging Australians behind for very long. So a good finish to the day for Phil Robertson and his crew. However the Italians were unremarkable for the rest of the weekend, with scores in the back half of the fleet. With hydraulic fluid leaking out of the system and turning the trampoline into an ice rink, this would have been the boat more difficult than ever to sail. So it’s hard to know how much this hampered the Italian performance. Even so, a fourth place in Sydney has been the only memorable result of the season. Team boss Jimmy Spithill must surely be expecting more from his sailors as we approach the halfway stage of the season.

Verdict: Yet to live up to expectations

Finished: 10th

Nicolai Sehested has been suffering from boat gremlins for four events in a row now. The board up/down mechanism has been a regular source of trouble, and it came back to haunt the Danish on Saturday. There was at least a second place in Race 2, but Sehested was in a grim mood by the end of the four-race session, and understandably so. With the boat fixed for Sunday, the Danes had a proper shot at showing what they could do. But it didn’t come together. “We just didn't do a good enough job. It's as simple as that,” Sehested told The Foil. “We pretty much did a bad job in all areas, from the starting to manoeuvres to speed to  picking a way around the racetrack and, you know, we've just got to do better than that today. And yeah, there's no excuses, we’ve just got to do better in tricky conditions than we did today.”

Verdict: Pressure rising for Denmark to perform following crew changes at the end of last year

Finished: 12th

Following a seventh place in Sydney, there has been reason to be optimistic about Brazil. Especially considering there were two last-minute substitutes on the crew for that weekend. Now that the usual team is back together, however, the results have not managed to build on any momentum from Sydney Harbour. The home performance in Rio was a disappointment, and so it was again in Bermuda. There are very good sailors on the crew, but they don’t seem to be working as a cohesive unit. Something’s not working here.

Verdict: Big rethink required