SailGP: Brazil and USA repaired and will compete in Saint-Tropez
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 7 Sep 06:10 PDT
New bow fitted to Team USA ready for the French SailGP, Saint-Tropez, SailGP Technologies, Southampton - September 3, 2025 © SailGP Technologies
The SailGP fleet will be back up to full strength at next weekend's Rockwool France SailGP in Saint-Tropez.
A big effort by the team at SailGP Technologies' facility in Southampton has seen full repairs effected to the damage incurred by Team USA and Mubadala Brazil in mid-August.
The League will also have the option of being fitting the fleet with new T-Foils and rudders.
In a disasterous weekend, at Sassnitz, Germany, Mubadala Brazil's mainbeam suffered a catastrophic failure to their main beam during a nose dive, on the test day, which also damaged the wingsail and other parts of the F50. About the same time the French lost their starboard rudder in spectacular fashion.
Team USA had a collision with Emirates Team GB in Race 4 as the boats crossed close to a disused race mark. The bow of USA clipped the transom of the Brits, severely damaging a large section of the US bow and putting a hole in the Brits. The SailGP shore support team decided the quickest repair was to cut a replacement section from the USA boat and insert that into a man-sized hole in the Brits. The repair was done overnight in Germany. USA was unable to sail on the Final Day.
The decision was taken to transport both boats from Germany to the SailGP Technologies base in Southampton, with the full tooling available, the gamble was that the quicker turnaround by using the Southampton facility more than offset the transport time.
On social media, SailGP CEO, Russell Coutts said of the new rudders: "the new high speed rudder elevators are about the same area as the old ones but a lot thinner."
"The low speed rudder elevators are about 5% more area than the old ones but again they're considerably thinner."
"Both have slightly longer span than their predecessors."
"Speed at which we see the onset of cavitation for the old rudders was about 45-47 knots. New about 55-57 knots!"
"Initial testing indicates new high speed rudders are about 2 knots faster but the big difference should be the added control at high speed."
The announcement of two new teams to join the League for the 2026 Season is expected to be immenient.
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