Please select your home edition
Edition
MySail 2025

Emirates Great Britain's Saint-Tropez win ignites the team in Taranto

by SailGP 22 Sep 2023 09:46 PDT 23-24 September 2023
The SailGP F50 catamaran fleet sail past the Palazzo del Governo during a practice session ahead of the ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix in Taranto, Italy © Bob Martin for SailGP

With less than 24 hours to go until the start of the ROCKWOOL Sail Grand Prix Italy | Taranto, the league has returned to the waters of Mar Grande for a second time for the fourth event of SailGP Season 4, taking place September 23-24.

After Sir Ben Ainslie's Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team took the podium after a two and a half year event-win drought in Saint-Tropez two weeks ago, they arrived in Taranto with a confident outlook for the second of the league's three back-to-back European events.

Ainslie said: "Momentum has a lot to do with it, we have a talented team on and off the water and for some reason we just weren't clicking and making too many mistakes. In Saint-Tropez it felt like if we did make mistakes, we recovered from them better, our communication was better and you need a bit of luck sometimes too. Hopefully we've got that momentum now."

With the Italy Sail Grand Prix being ROCKWOOL Denmark SailGP Team's 'home' event this season, the pressure is on for Nicolai Sehested's team to perform well this weekend. So far this season, the Danes have been one of the most consistent teams but an error in Saint-Tropez saw Sehested miss out on the final.

Sehested said: "We have to look forward to this weekend, not backward. Our communication was wrong and I thought we had to beat Emirates Great Britain but we didn't; we'll learn from it and try not to do that again. It's always been a goal for us to reach consistency that will get you good results."

Unfortunately for official practice racing today, the start line only consisted of 9 not 10 national teams due to the structural failure of Peter Burling's New Zealand team's wingsail - caused by the wing coming out of alignment - at the last event in Saint-Tropez.

Wing trimmer and co-CEO Blair Tuke said: "It's incredibly disappointing to not be able to build on the momentum of day one in Saint-Tropez, but we've faced adversity before and we will come back stronger in Cádiz, and for the rest of the season."

At the pre-event press conference there was a lot of discussion around whether the New Zealand team should receive points compensation as the league considers its redress policy.

Tom Slingsby, driver and CEO of Australia SailGP Team said: "It's a hard one to answer. Competitive Tom is saying 'no and bad luck and move on'. Realistic Tom is saying 'I understand that they didn't really make a mistake there.' Sometimes it will be bad luck, and sometimes it will be bad management but I like the idea of the result being decided there and then on the water."

The Aussies are leading overall despite not winning an event in Season 4, and it was announced at the pre-event press conference that the team won first place in the first focus area, 'race to zero waste', of SailGP's podium for the planet, the Impact League. Australia was voted winner due to its innovative solution to reduce single use plastics such as cling film, sticky backed plastic and tape used for emergency on-water repairs. They have developed an alternative front fairing in collaboration with Doyles Sails and the Tech team that will now be implemented by the rest of the fleet going forward.

Slingsby said: "Myself and the entire team are really pleased to be on top of both leaderboards. We haven't been able to crack the Impact League leaderboard in previous seasons, so starting at the top with the most points is very rewarding. It almost feels better than winning the league championship and we definitely want to keep this momentum going throughout Season 4."

After official practice racing, Denmark and Australia were towed through Canale Navigabile in the center of Taranto putting on a spectacle for fans on the eve of racing. The teams were greeted by fans lining both sides of the canal to show their support and excitement for the impending races to come over the weekend.

The ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto commences at 1:30pm local time tomorrow, September 23, and can be seen live on Sky Italia and RaiPlay in Italy all weekend. For details on how to watch around the globe visit SailGP.com/watch. For fans in Italy, limited tickets are still available to have an amazing waterside grandstand seat to be right in the heart of the action. Head to SailGP.com/Italy for more information.

Rockwool Sail Grand Prix | Taranto, Italy
Day One Racing: Saturday, September 23, 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CEST
Day Two Racing: Sunday, September 24, 1:30 p.m - 3:00 p.m. CEST

SailGP Season 4 Championship Standings: (after three events)

1. Australia - 26 points
2. Spain - 24 points
3. ROCKWOOL Denmark - 23 points
4. Emirates GBR - 19 points
5. New Zealand - 17 points
6. United States - 14 points
7. France - 13 points
8. Canada - 12 points*
9. Switzerland - 7 points
10. Germany - 4 points*

*Germany SailGP Team docked two points in Season Championship for four-point penalty at Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix
*Canada SailGP Team Docked four points in Season Championship for eight-point penalty at France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez

SailGP Season 4 Impact League Standings:

1. Australia - 163 points
2. Switzerland - 150 points
3. Emirates GBR - 139 points
4. France - 137 points
5. New Zealand - 132 points
6. United States - 123 points
7. Canada - 122 points
8. ROCKWOOL Denmark - 120 points
9. Germany - 120 points
10. Spain - 110 points

Related Articles

Grael reflects on Mubadala Brazil's first season
Challenging conditions, big goals and gaining the team's trust It's been a whirlwind first season for Mubadala Brazil so far. The team, led by SailGP's first female driver and double Olympic champion Martine Grael, entered the league alongside Red Bull Italy at the start of the season. Posted on 19 Apr
Auckland responds to 2026 SailGP ommission
Auckland Events CEO responds to 2026 SailGP venue ommission despite a valid Hosting Agreement. Auckland Unlimited CEO has responded to the ommission of Auckland from the 2026 preliminary event list circulated by the SailGP League, despite a four event Kiwi hosting contract having one event remaining. Posted on 16 Apr
Australia expands to two events
For 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship SailGP, the global sail racing championship, has today revealed an expanded Australian footprint, with two events - Perth and Sydney - confirmed among the first 2026 Season destinations. Posted on 16 Apr
SailGP Rio event cancelled
After identifying a defect in select wingsails across the F50 fleet After identifying a defect in select wingsails across the F50 fleet, SailGP has made the difficult decision to cancel next month's Rio event (May 3-4) in order to facilitate required repairs ahead of New York and the remainder of the 2025 Season. Posted on 10 Apr
SailGP: F50's sent for wingsail checks
The SailGP fleet has been diverted "to a shipyard" for wingsail checks. Reports by Brazilian newspaper OGlobo's website that the SailGP fleet has been diverted "to a shipyard" for wingsail checks, have been confirmed. The Brazil SailGP event has been cancelled. Posted on 10 Apr
Australia SailGP Team wing collapse video
Looking at all the angles of the incident in San Francisco With salvage under way, the SailGP Technical Team will now begin an in-depth analysis to determine what caused the incident. Posted on 24 Mar
SailGP: Spain scores a repeat win
Spain repeated their win in the Grand Final of Season 4, at the same venue, In a repeat of their win in the Grand Final of Season 4, at the same venue, 2024 Olympic Gold Medalist Diego Botin, helmed the Spain SailGP team to win the fifth event of Season 5 in San Francisco. Posted on 24 Mar
Spain SailGP Team snags San Francisco repeat
While Australia suffers 'heartbreaking' wing collapse Spain has triumphed once again in San Francisco, defeating NorthStar Canada (2nd) and France (3rd) to become the fifth winner in five events this season. Posted on 24 Mar
SailGP: Flying Roos dismasted in Pre-start
The Flying Roos (AUS) broke their wingsail in the final seconds leading up to the start of Race 7 The Flying Roos (AUS) broke their wingsail in the final seconds leading up to the start of Race 7 of the Oracle SailGP Regatta in San Francisco. Conditions at the time were a rising breeze of 10-15kts - well within the capability of the 24metre tall rig. Posted on 23 Mar
NorthStar Canada SailGP Team flies to the top
On Day 1 of Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix NorthStar Canada picked up where they left off, leading the fleet with 35 points after a dynamic first day of the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix. Driver Giles Scott enjoyed three podium finishes - including two wins - in the first four fleet races. Posted on 23 Mar
Cyclops Marine 2023 November - FOOTERSea Sure 2025Henri-Lloyd Dynamic Range