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

Finished: 1st
Of 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, then to rediscover their composure to get racing and do just enough to scrape through into the final... This, plus their victory in the final after fighting off those valiant attacks from the British, makes them my top performers in the battle for New York. This has been a bogey venue for Tom Slingsby; he sounded not so much triumphant as relieved at having survived an extraordinary weekend of rollercoaster emotions, and delighted to have got that New York monkey off his back. Add to that the announcement by co-owners Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds of a Disney+ docuseries taking a behind-the-scenes look at the Bonds Flying Roos, this could be massive for all of SailGP. If this proves to be the league’s ‘Drive To Survive’ opportunity, then all F50s can be truly grateful for floating on a rising tide.

Finished: 3rd
There were signs of NorthStar SailGP team making progress in Bermuda. Giles Scott’s progress towards the three-boat final was scuppered by that port/starboard incident where Sweden ruined one of their races on Sunday. Even so, the Canadian boat looked to be dragging its arse in the marginal foiling moments on the Great Sound. By the looks of Sunday in New York, the Canadian boat has got its mojo back - windward bow aggressively close to kissing the water, leeward rudder riding coquettishly high. This is the mode that Australia and Spain seem able to achieve with ease compared with the rest of the pack. This boatspeed - along with some smart tactical placement around the congested race track - rewarded Giles Scott with the highest number of overtakes for the weekend - a grand total of nine. The next best in this vital category scored just six, with the majority of teams hovering around zero. While Scott will be disappointed not to have featured in the three-boat final, coming in a distant third, this is a minor blip compared with an overall good-news story. After a sorry start to the season, Canada is rediscovering some momentum in the build-up to its home event in Halifax.

Finished: 12th
Why Spain, you ask? Well, when Diego Botin had an operational boat, Los Gallos dominated the small-fleet contest on an ultra-breezy Saturday that would end up counting for nothing other than bragging rights. Not that the ever-smiling, always-humble Botin is one to brag. He probably doesn’t complain loudly enough about his frequently malfunctioning boat. When it’s working, the oldest boat in the fleet is as fast as any other, possibly faster. But when you ask him, Botin says he’s looking forward to taking delivery of a new F50 later this season because he hopes to banish the ongoing technical gremlins that beset his ageing catamaran. With hydraulic problems putting the Spanish out of action for all of Sunday’s racing, where to place them in these rankings? This might be a woulda, shoulda kind of thing to place them this high in the order, but like I said, they were on fire on Saturday, and they’ve been on fire all season - when the boat has not been breaking on them.

Finished: 2nd
This looked like an Emirates GBR getting back to close to its best. In Saturday’s windy races, Dylan Fletcher ruled the starts even if Spain were the better package around the race course. They were fast out of the blocks on Saturday, launching the day with a race win and bouncing back nicely in the next - from dead last off the start line to sixth by the finish. The British overtaking the Aussies in that stellar match race - even if they were subsequently overtaken - showed good speed and tactical decision-making. While Fletcher felt some pangs of regret about missing out on the overall win, coming second in New York should really help banish the demons of that inexplicable last place finish in Rio de Janeiro less than two months ago.

Finished: 6th
The USA had been my pick to win this event. In fact they’ve been my pick ever since they took victory in Sydney. When am I going to wake up to the idea of backing Australia instead! But my belief in Taylor Canfield’s team was backed up by their performance in the first two races of Sunday when they scored a second and a first. The stats support that notion that the Americans have been the fastest finger first out of the starts and the all-important race to Mark One. Canfield’s late charge out of the leeward end of the start line of Race 2 was beautifully judged and gave them the slingshot out into an early lead that they held easily to the finish. But then it was the start of the next race where an impressive weekend unravelled for the home team. The Americans were the sole boat from that three boat pile-up from the Race 3 start to be DSQ’ed. Just DNFs for Brazil and Italy. Even Canfield was holding his hands up to his culpability in the crash. From now on, will the Americans - and other teams - make sure there is at least one person in the leeward cockpit in those conditions, to keep a watchful eye out for any boat that makes a sudden and unexpected hand-brake turn to the right? So, lessons to be learned, but the Americans continue to make an impact for good reasons, as well as that bad one.

Finished: 4th
It was surely a blessing for France – and Enzo Belanger in particular – that they didn’t have to go into battle on Saturday with the wind gusting up to 36 knots. Quentin Delapierre’s new wing trimmer, following those severe injuries to Leigh McMillan and Glenn Ashby this season, at least had a softer start to his first day of competition in SailGP. Not only that, but to come out of the weekend with a fourth place was a really good result of which Delapierre was rightly proud.

Finished: 10th
Placings of 5th and 8th in the first two races point towards some kind of progress for Brazil. Then again, New York a year earlier was where Martine Grael steered the Brazilian boat to its first race victory and only narrowly missed the podium when the team finished 4th in 2025. A really good start in Sunday’s second fleet race saw Brazil fighting for the lead at Mark One, closely following USA around the bear away. That was a good sign for a team that has really struggled in the pre-starts. It has been slim pickings for Brazil this season, so were we seeing glimmers of improvement on Sunday? Alas, just as the Brazilians were building up a head of steam - that three-way collision at the start of Race 3. The only one of the three teams in the pile-up not to be given penalty points, so an innocent party. But small consolation for such a rude ending to an otherwise good day.

Finished: 5th
There’s a feeling that the season is beginning to slip away from Artemis SailGP. Nathan Outteridge was clearly frustrated at not being able to race on Saturday; and on Sunday the Swedish team was engaged in some co-ordinated practice starts and reaching to Mark One with some of the other teams from northern Europe - Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Outteridge seemed quite taken aback that The Foil had noticed the formation practice starts, but he explained it was Sweden who had initiated the idea. It seems like Sweden is pulling out all the stops to close the gap to the front pack. A 3rd place in Sunday’s opening race was the one bright spot for Sweden in New York, although they still finished in fifth overall. This puts Sweden in sixth in the season standings, bottom of the first division. No need for panic yet, but Artemis needs to step up a level if it’s to challenge for the top three in Abu Dhabi by the end of the year.

Finished: 10th
A middle-of-the-road performance for Switzerland in New York but Sebastien Schneiter can take encouragement from some good rounding positions at Mark One. The Swiss launched the boat nicely off the top end of the start line in Sunday’s first race. Fourth down to the bottom gate but with Italy close to leeward on the outside of the rounding, Schneiter was unfortunate to cop a penalty from the umpires as Phil Robertson slowly luffed the Swiss. Coming off worse in these kinds of marginal situations is preventing the Swiss from capitalising on their good moments. After a fifth place in Bermuda, Schneiter will have been hoping for better than eighth in New York. 

Finished: 7th
What has the ocean given you? “Lots of money,” was Nicolai Sehested’s cheeky, quick-as-a-flash reply to SailGP’s upbeat influencer Alex Hobern in the mixed zone after Sunday’s racing. The Danish driver was in equally, funny, feisty mood when he spoke to me next. He’s sounding increasingly cross about the lack of practice time available in the F50s. So to miss Saturday’s racing after no practice racing on Friday was too frustrating for him to take without some kind of comment. After two poor opening races, Denmark finally made amends in Race 3 with a second place behind Canada. So, good to finish on a better note, but the sense of dissatisfaction still prevails. If I could give the Danes extra points for their naughty memes on Instagram, then they’d be the winners of the weekend. When you’re frustrated that crane stops play on a stormy Saturday, do you sit around and mope about it? No! You turn to Photoshop and your favourite AI weapon of choice. And you tell the league what you think through the medium of spiky, sardonic humour. 

Finished: 9th
Red Bull Italy were well in contention for making the three-boat final after solid performances in the first two fleet races with scores of 6th and 3rd. But then that poorly judged approach to the start line of Race 3, with Italy underestimating the strength of that Hudson River conveyor belt dragging the Red Bull boat too quickly towards the line. With Phil Robertson’s priority being to keep the boat from starting early and copping a penalty, he paid a much higher price as he turned the boat 90 degrees away from Mark One and parallel to the start line. With so many blind spots created by the wingsails and jibs in such a hectic, high-traffic zone, it’s not that surprising that the US team failed to spot the Italian boat in its path. The subsequent collision from the US team, compounded by a smack in the stern from Brazil, brought Italian hopes to a carbon-splintering end. The collision also raises questions about what the league needs to do to prevent this kind of carnage. Under the current rules, Italy would have been within its rights to steer all the way up to head to wind. 

Finished: 11th
Poor starting has been Erik Heil’s self-confessed biggest problem on board the German boat. The Germans were marginally over the start line in Sunday’s first race, immediately putting them to the back. However, with all the attention on that three-way collision at the start of Race 3, it was easy to overlook the excellent launch out of the line by the Germans who led around Mark One and down to the bottom gate. They were unable to hold the lead, although a fourth place was not too shabby. A lot less than shabby than finishing back of the fleet in the two previous races, which relegated Germany to last place in New York (with the exception of Spain of course).