Challenging weekend for the NorthStar SailGP Team at the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix
by NorthStar SailGP Team 1 Mar 22:57 AEDT
28 February - 1 March 2026
NORTHSTAR SailGP Team alongside Switzerland SailGP Team on Race Day 1 of the KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix in Sydney, Australia © Felix Diemer for SailGP
It was a challenging weekend for the NorthStar SailGP Team, competing in the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix.
Historically, Sydney has offered up intense weather conditions and mixed luck for the team. In Season 3, the Southerly Buster came through and decimated the team's new F50 which had been christened just days before, then in Season 4, an electronics malfunction meant a whole day of racing was lost. In Season 5, things improved for the Canadian team which qualified for the final and finished a very close second overall, just seconds behind Emirates GBR. However, this weekend, Driver Giles Scott and the NorthStar crew struggled, placing 11th, 11th, 8th, 8th, 11th, 10th and wrapping up the final fleet race with a 3rd to finish 11th overall.
"Tough is a good way to summarize it. It was a culmination of not doing lots little things particularly well. Coming out today with a super random race course and getting rafted by the Swedish at the leeward end of the start line, was really not how we wanted to begin what we hoped would be a good day," said Giles. "We're obviously bitterly disappointed and hoped to be doing much better than we are right now. There's quite a bit to look at and a bit of a turnaround that is needed. But we've got to keep our heads screwed on. It's a long season. We haven't had a great start, but now it's about trying to get whatever we can out of it. We'll come out again in Rio, take a swing at it and attack it. We know we're capable of getting good results. We just haven't done it lately."
After racing, the team was also notified by the jury that there has been a report from the Tech Team regarding NorthStar's contact with Germany in race 5 and Sweden in race 6. The jury has scheduled hearings in the coming days and the decision could result in penalty points being applied.
"It has been one of the most frustrating and difficult weekends for this team. We also understand that our results are disappointing for our fans. We will be debriefing and will make improvements that bring performance back in line with all of our expectations," said Phil Kennard, Team Principal and CEO of the NorthStar SailGP Team.
DS Automobiles Team France and the Black Foils were unable to compete this weekend following on from their dramatic collision in Auckland a few short weeks ago.
From Sydney, the fleet heads to Brazil for the Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix on 11-12 April.