ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
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40
Days
17
Hours
35
Minutes
19
Seconds
14 – 15 Feb 2026
Location
Auckland, New Zealand
Date/Time
Day 1: 14 Feb 2026 16:00
(03:00 GMT)
Day 2: 15 Feb 2026 16:00
(03:00 GMT)
Few places on earth take sailing as seriously as Auckland. When the America's Cup came to Auckland in 2021, hundreds of thousands flooded the waterfront, treating foiling catamarans like a second All Blacks. SailGP’s Season 5 debut tapped into that same energy, drawing record crowds to Waitematā Harbour and debuting those new titanium T-foils that have since transformed the fleet.
The venue itself is a tactical puzzle. Expect conditions around 15 knots – a step down from Perth's intensity, but fast enough to reward clean execution. The breeze shifts unpredictably off the city skyline and North Shore, served up on short, steep harbour chop that catches out any lapse in flight control. Well-drilled teams tend to look comfortable here; anyone still finding their feet after Perth may find less room to recover.
For Peter Burling's Black Foils, this is simultaneously the best and worst venue on the calendar – the home support is immense, but so is the weight of expectation. Australia pinched the win here in Season 5. The Kiwis will be hungry to settle that score on home water.
Past winners: Australia (Season 5)
| Pos | Team | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Tom Slingsby | 26 |
| 2 |
|
Dylan Fletcher | 19 |
| 3 |
|
Diego Botin | 15 |
| 4 |
|
Quentin Delapierre | 17 |
| 5 |
|
Nathan Outteridge | 14 |
| 6 |
|
Erik Heil | 13 |
| 7 |
|
Taylor Canfield | 11 |
| 8 |
|
Nicolai Sehested | 10 |
| 9 |
|
Peter Burling | 10 |
| 10 |
|
Giles Scott | 8 |
| 11 |
|
Sébastien Schneiter | 6 |
| 12 |
|
Martine Grael | 6 |
| 13 |
|
Phil Robertson | 3 |
Our Coverage of ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland
Tom 'Mozzy' Morris: SailGP's Auckland safety review doesn't add up
I’ve seen a race management hearing document that appears to contradict SailGP’s official safety narrative around the New Zealand–France collision in Auckland. And it also seems to back up what Pete Burling and Blair Tuke have...
SailGP fixes split-fleet scoring mess
SailGP has quietly fixed the split-fleet scoring problem exposed in Auckland. The league updated its Notice of Race this morning to address the points imbalance that left teams frustrated after the season’s second event. The...
Jury verdict: Black Foils pushed too hard before Auckland crash
The Black Foils could have sailed their F50 more conservatively in order to avoid the loss of control that resulted in the collision with the French team at the Auckland SailGP Grand Prix earlier this month. That’s the broad...
SailGP says no system fault in Auckland crash
SailGP has released its technical findings into the high-speed collision between the Black Foils and DS Team France at the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix – and the league's verdict is emphatic: no mechanical fault or software...
The long shadow of Sassnitz – and the split-fleet future
The problems at the SailGP weekend in Auckland date back to the problems at SailGP in Sassnitz last August, in more ways than one. 1. The disintegration of the Brazilian F50 on the practice day in Germany, caused by a rare...
System limit led to Auckland collision, Black Foils reveal
Black Foils co-CEOs Pete Burling and Blair Tuke fronted the media at Viaduct Harbour, Auckland on Thursday morning, delivering their most detailed account yet of the collision that hospitalised grinder Louis Sinclair and Manon...
Freddie Carr: Auckland incident will be another turning point for safety
Seeing a wing lying across a broken catamaran brings back the toughest memories of the 2013 America’s Cup, when the sailing world lost Andrew Simpson in a training accident in San Francisco. Watching the Black Foils in Auckland...
The Foil Weekly Wrap - 16 Feb '26
SailGP dominated the news this week – and not always for the right reasons. Plus a few other things are happening in the sailing world too… Australia land another Auckland victory – Tom Slingsby's Flying Roos claimed their second...
How SailGP’s Auckland weekend took a dark turn
It was a shocking change of momentum to witness the Black Foils’ fall from grace on home waters. After the battle to put the broken F50 back together after that collision with Switzerland in Perth, Pete Burling and his crew came...
Flying Roos bound to victory over GBR and Spain in Auckland
Australia’s Bond Flying Roos found the edge over Emirates GBR and Spain’s Los Gallos crew to win the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix on Sunday. The result marks a second successive victory in Auckland for the Australians. In tough...
SailGP to split the fleet for Sunday races
SailGP race officer Iain Murray has decided to split the fleet into two groups for Sunday’s concluding fleet races before the three-boat final at the New Zealand Grand Prix in Auckland. While The Foil hasn’t yet heard the reasons...
Black Foils grinder Sinclair suffers breaks to both legs
Following the catastrophic collision between New Zealand and France during Saturday’s SailGP racing on a gusty and unpredictable Auckland Harbour, the New Zealand team has published this statement on Saturday evening: “Black...
