SailGP Team Spain

One season. That's how long it took Diego Botín's Los Gallos to go from wooden spoon to world champions. Spain finished dead last in Season 3 – equipment failures, crew churn, development-team results – then won the whole thing twelve months later, toppling Tom Slingsby's three-time Aussie champions and Peter Burling's New Zealand in the Season 4 San Francisco Grand Final.

Season 5 brought the pressure that comes with defending a title. Early signs looked promising: back-to-back wins in San Francisco and New York established Spain as genuine contenders once again. Then came the wobble in the European leg. A combination of Joan Cardona's absence and cohesion issues saw results slide, and by Abu Dhabi the momentum had stalled. Spain became the team to beat in fleet racing – quite literally, as their Aussie rivals targeted them strategically – and missed the Grand Final entirely, finishing fourth overall.

At the centre of it all is the Botín-Florian Trittel partnership, fronting the youngest team in the league. Winning Olympic gold in the 49er at Paris 2024, followed by a 49er world title in 2025, the pair are standard-bearers for Spanish high-performance sailing. The whole operation runs out of Foiling Base Cádiz – a permanent training hub that picked up the 2025 Foiling Awards' pathway prize and anchors Spain as both elite contender and grassroots development engine.

While the team remains league-owned, CEO Alquézar is busy sounding out Spanish investors to buy the franchise at a valuation north of USD 50 million. The "Marea Roja" (red tide) fanbase packs the Cádiz waterfront for home events, and the team's youth-driven narrative – youngest squad, reigning Olympic champs, active pathway work – makes them one of SailGP's most marketable franchises.

Season 6 finds Los Gallos at a crossroads. The crew returns unchanged, betting that their proven chemistry and Olympic pedigree can recapture the magic that delivered the Season 4 championship. Proving that title was more than a fluke will require a consistency that eluded them through last year's late-season fade.