SailGP: All three damaged teams "targeted" for Halifax start.
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 17 Jun 02:54 PDT
Team USA F50 under repair - SailGP Halifax - June 2026 © SailGP
The three damaged F50s involved in the start-line pile-up in the New York round of SailGP, are "targeted" to make a return at this weekend's SailGP event in Halifax, Canada.
In a media statement, SailGP say the three teams USA, Red Bull Italy and Mubadala Brazil are "targeting the start line in Halifax as work is being carried out across international teams", based at the East River Shipyard in Nova Scotia.
SailGP say that a team of 35 are working in UK and Canada, along with five "local experts". The repair effort is projected to take 3,500 hours in repair work on the three F50s, along with another "10,000 hours of spare parts consumed throughout the rebuilding process".
Further updates will be provided closer to the event.
Images provided by SailGP show now familiar shots of F50s with damaged sections cut away and replaced. Unlike the earlier collision between DS Automobiles Team France and the Black Foils (NZL), parts from one boat are not being salvaged to repair the others.
In a separate statement earlier today, the Black Foils confirmed they would be back on the start line in Halifax. The team’s new F50 was scheduled to undergo commissioning on Wednesday, with Thursday as a backup if needed.
The team's first real outing is expected to be during Practice racing on Friday.
The newly built F50, produced by SailGP Technologies in Southampton, left Southampton in early June, after the team’s original boat was badly damaged in the Auckland incident.
The return marks the end of a four-event spell on the sidelines for one of SailGP’s most decorated teams. The enforced absence has left the Black Foils at the bottom of the 13-team Rolex SailGP Championship standings, but with seven events still remaining on the 2026 calendar, including Halifax, they remain mathematically in contention for a place in the season-ending Grand Final.
Black Foils grinder Louis Sinclair, who suffered fractures to both legs in the Auckland incident, will not race in Halifax as he continues his recovery at home. As announced earlier in May, experienced SailGP athlete Stewart Dodson has joined the Black Foils as cover for Sinclair for the remainder of the season.
SailGP League CEO Russell Coutts has hit out at critics of SailGP management following a series of Start-line and Sprint-leg incidents at the New York and Auckland events.
Russell Coutts said that upwind starts would cause chaos due to overlapping tacks, with teams reaching boundaries within a few seconds of each other and having to tack simultaneously to clear.
"The key to avoiding these incidents is that the teams maintain a good lookout, so they know that the other boats are there."
"That was the reason, the main reason for the collision in New York. That's a Fundamental Rule, and one of the fundamental rules of basically any seafaring, even the International Rules for Prevention of Collisions at sea."
"If you're racing under the racing rules, you're obligated to keep a lookout. And that was really the problem."
"So we're going to take steps to make sure that the teams will be keeping a lookout in the future," he added.
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