Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix presented by KPMG

Forget easing into the new season – SailGP is throwing teams straight into the deep end. The championship debuts in Perth for Season 6 just a few weeks after the drifter conditions of Abu Dhabi’s Season 5 Grand Final. Crews arrive in Western Australia to face the Fremantle Doctor, a seabreeze notorious for delivering 25-knot afternoons with metronomic reliability, and unlike some heavy-air venues, this one comes with proper ocean swell rather than flat water. Expect plenty of high-speed foiling, boat-handling heroics, and quite possibly a few spectacular wipeouts.

The venue itself carries sailing pedigree – Fremantle hosted the 1987 America's Cup – though the F50s will race closer inshore, off Bathers Beach, where waterfront grandstands will put spectators within spitting distance of the action. With a three-year deal already signed, Perth looks set to become a marquee stop on the calendar.

As the city’s inaugural event, there’ll be no real local knowledge advantage. Even more importantly, perhaps, as the first event of the year, Perth will also test how well new crew configurations have come together over the off-season. The venue leaves little room for miscommunication, and some teams may take a conservative approach to protect their boats early in the campaign.

Don’t be surprised if you see a finishing order that looks nothing like Abu Dhabi…

Past winners: N/A (new venue)