The Foil Weekly Roundup - 12 Jan '26

The new year kicks off with the America's Cup world in flux, SailGP heading Down Under for its most competitive season yet, and the offshore racing calendar firing up with a transatlantic dash. From match racing's most decorated champion adding to his trophy cabinet to the winter dinghy circuit keeping the flame alive in freezing Britain, here's what happened – and what's coming next.

Ian Williams has done it again. The British skipper claimed his ninth World Match Racing Tour championship at the final in Shenzhen, extending his stranglehold on one-on-one sailing to a level nobody else has come close to matching. Williams topped Nicklas Engström in the final, with Chris Poole rounding out the podium in third. Poole also secured the 2025 Tour Points title across the season.

At 46, Williams shows no signs of slowing down. His dominance spans nearly two decades – a period in which match racing has evolved from J/80s to M32 catamarans to the current fleet of one-design keelboats. Through every iteration, Williams has remained the benchmark. His ability to read opponents, control tight pre-start battles and execute flawless tactical sequences under pressure separates him from even the sport's other elite sailors. His new role as starting coach for Canada's NorthStar team means he'll be putting that pre-start wizardry to work in SailGP.

The GJW Bloody Mary at Queen Mary Sailing Club delivered exactly what winter dinghy sailing should be – freezing hands, full commitment and classic boats battling it out on reservoir water. The 124-boat fleet saw 42 classes and 62 sailing clubs take part in the 50th edition of Britain's most iconic winter pursuit race, where boats start based on their PY handicap.

Jono Pank and Isobel Bretherton took victory in their Firefly – as Pank became the first sailor to win the Bloody Mary two years running – ahead of Angus Cook and Lucie Hopkins in another Firefly, while the Mirror sailed by Ian Dobson and his son Ted rounded out the top three.

It's a quintessentially British sailing scene – dinghies that have been around for decades, sailors who'd rather be on the water than sitting by the fire, and a pursuit race format that rewards boat handling and tactical nous over pure speed. The Firefly, a 12-foot clinker-built wooden dinghy designed in the late 1930s, remains a staple of UK club racing. Seeing two of them dominate the Bloody Mary field is a reminder that classic boats, sailed well, can still show more modern designs a clean pair of heels.

The Foil’s Tom ‘Mozzy’ Morris was there in his RS800 to see how many boats he could overtake:

Mercedes F1 confirmed what many suspected this week – their America's Cup involvement is over. Team principal Toto Wolff told Forbes the German squad wants "complete focus on only Formula 1", ending the technical partnership with INEOS Britannia that helped Sir Ben Ainslie reach the AC37 Match.

Meanwhile, American Magic confirmed completion of their Pensacola, Florida high-performance facility and a partnership with SailGP to use it as a long-term F50 training hub from September 2026 through to 2031. It's a major commitment to American sailing infrastructure, but the big unanswered question is: are they entering SailGP?

Rumours point to Denmark's ROCKWOOL Racing as American Magic's potential SailGP vehicle. The Danish team just renewed their title sponsorship through to 2032 – the league's longest-standing deal – and skipper Nicolai Sehested has history sailing with American Magic co-founder Doug DeVos on Windquest campaigns.

How such a Danish-American partnership would work is unclear – and somewhat ironic given the current geopolitical climate – but with SailGP Season 6 kicking off in Perth next weekend, answers may come soon. One thing's for sure: the lines between Cup syndicates and SailGP franchises are blurring fast.

The 38th America's Cup shifts from theory to practice this week as AC75 sailing resumes from Thursday 16 January. After months of design, build and shore-based preparation, the foiling 75-footers will finally be allowed back on the water.

The Joint Reconnaissance programme will also kick back into life. Every team will be watching each other's development closely, searching for performance gains in foil design, control systems and sail configuration. The clock is ticking toward the Challenger Selection Series, and nobody wants to be left behind when the real battles begin.

Preliminary regattas remain officially 'TBA', but Italian media continues to point toward Cagliari, Sardinia as a likely early host. The next key date is 21 January when Naples cycle announcements should provide clearer structure to the AC38 calendar.

The offshore racing calendar roared to life on Sunday with the RORC Transatlantic Race sending 21 boats and crews from 19 nations on a 3,000-nautical-mile voyage from Lanzarote to Antigua. Monohulls started at 1230 UTC, followed by multihulls ten minutes later, and now the Atlantic crossing is on.

The line honours battle sits with the MOD70 trimarans Argo and Zoulou, two rocket ships capable of averaging 20+ knots across thousands of miles of open ocean. With favourable trade winds setting up, a sub-seven-day crossing looks achievable for the quickest boats – meaning we could see them arrive in the Caribbean by the weekend. To put that in perspective, that's averaging over 400 nautical miles per day, sustained, in ocean conditions.

On corrected time under IRC handicap, the prestigious RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy remains wide open. Early names in the mix include Ino Noir, the Carkeek 45 that's been prominent in corrected time standings. Meanwhile, Raven is looking strong for the IMA Trophy, awarded to the top maxi yacht. The field spans everything from high-tech performance machines to smaller offshore racers, each with their own battle to fight. Follow the action at rorctransatlantic.rorc.org.

SailGP Season 6 roars to life in Fremantle on Friday with practice racing, followed by the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix across the weekend of 17-18 January. For the first time, 13 F50 catamarans will start a SailGP season together – Artemis joins the established fleet, bringing Nathan Outteridge's experience and Torbjörn Törnqvist's deep pockets to Sweden's maiden campaign.

SailGP CEO Russell Coutts is bracing for chaos. "It's going to be very windy and very wavy in Perth," he told SailGP media. "Some teams will be delighted just to get through those events without damage." The infamous Fremantle Doctor wind is forecast to deliver exactly what the venue is known for – strong, gusty sea breezes combining with Indian Ocean swell to create some of the trickiest conditions on the SailGP calendar. As season openers go, it's about as unforgiving as they come.

Coutts hasn’t been shy about predictions either. He's tipping Artemis for a top-three finish straight out of the gate, banking on Outteridge's F50 pedigree and Iain Percy's team-building nous. Australia's Bonds Flying Roos remain favourites, particularly with Iain Jensen joining Tom Slingsby's crew, while Emirates GBR finished Season 5 strongly and look serious title contenders. The transfer window just closed, so crew lists confirmed at Perth will reveal who landed where in the off-season's game of musical chairs.

The Foil team will be on the ground bringing you all the breaking news as SailGP's most open season yet gets underway. Read Andy Rice’s Perth Preview here.