{"id":82791,"date":"2025-12-01T15:36:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=82791"},"modified":"2025-12-01T16:48:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:48:00","slug":"brits-lock-sailgps-season-win-and-the-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/brits-lock-sailgps-season-win-and-the-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"Brits Lock SailGP\u2019s Season Win and the Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Mubadala <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The cash-for-grabs finale between the season’s top-three teams had the Australians out front at Mark 1, but the Brits sailed away with the prize money. <\/span>\n Ricardo Pinto\/America’s Cup<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

Emirates Great Britain won it all on the Arabian Gulf, defeating the BONDS Flying Roos and New Zealand\u2019s Black Foils to become the third-ever winner of the Rolex SailGP Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory caps off a remarkable year for Dylan Fletcher and crew, who shaped one of the strongest performance arcs of the season \u2013 starting with the double Olympic gold medalist\u2019s return last November in Dubai. Where other teams may have faltered, the Brits\u2019 rose \u2013 picking up more event wins (three), fleet race wins (11), and fleet race podiums (24) than any other crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating on shore, Fletcher said, \u201cEverything was incredibly stressful \u2013 like we were up against the best sailors in the world. Even though the Grand Final teams hadn\u2019t performed great this weekend, we were all managing our own little battles ourselves. So when it came down to it \u2013 I think you saw testament to how close it is at the top. Any one of us could have won that race and I\u2019m very happy it was us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a title fight that stayed alive to the very last breath, the winner-takes-all Grand Final race kept fans on the edge of their seat \u2013 with each team taking the lead at least once in the nine-minute showdown. While the BONDS Flying Roos led the sprint to mark one, they were quickly hunted down by New Zealand, who had managed to gain a 100-meter lead at the mid-way point of the final race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Fletcher wasn\u2019t done \u2013 clawing his way back from third to overhaul the BONDS Flying Roos and Black Foils on the fourth leg of the winner-takes-all shootout. On the final reach to the finish, Slingsby gave the Roo Crew one final push, sailing past New Zealand to cross the line in second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Emirates <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team and shore crew celebrate with the Impact League trophy, Golden Wheel Trophy and Rolex SailGP Championship trophy.<\/span>\n Andrew Baker for SailGP<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

Emirates GBR are the first team to top both the Rolex SailGP Championship and Impact League standings in a single season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team principal and CEO Sir Ben Ainslie said, \u201cI\u2019m so proud of the team, both on and off the water. It\u2019s been a long season with plenty of highs and lows, but to finish in such strong fashion \u2014 to win the Impact League, win the season outright, and then win the Grand Final \u2014 it\u2019s a huge achievement. The team has been brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was another Grand Final heartbreak for trans-Tasmal rivals Australia and New Zealand \u2013 the second time Australia has been beaten in the race that decides it all, and the third crushing defeat for New Zealand. After a disappointing series of fleet race results on Saturday and Sunday, Spain were unable to edge Australia for a chance to defend their Season 4 crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BONDS Flying Roos Driver Tom Slingsby looked on the bright side, \u201cWe have so much to be proud of with our team \u2013 the franchise and our team is incredibly strong. We\u2019ve got unbelievable people involved from the shore team to the sailors and everyone behind the scenes \u2013 we have an unbelievable squad and I’m thankful that we are part of an incredible team.\u201d Slingsby continued, \u201cIt\u2019s a quick turnaround and we are back in Perth and we start all over again and try to get our title back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Black Foils Peter Burling conceded, \u201cWe\u2019re all definitely hurting right now, but that\u2019s what you want in these situations. If the team didn\u2019t care about what we\u2019re doing and the mission we\u2019re on, we wouldn\u2019t feel the hurt we\u2019re feeling now. Super close, but the cards didn\u2019t quite go our way this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burling continued, \u201cIt\u2019s hard for us \u2014 this is our third opportunity. We\u2019ve won well over 50% of the finals we\u2019ve been in, but we still haven\u2019t managed to win a Grand Final. It\u2019s incredibly tough when the whole season comes down to one shifty 10-minute race. There\u2019s some frustration on our end, but we\u2019ve got to be proud of the race and the season we put together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day also marked a historic milestone for ROCKWOOL Racing, who claimed their first event win, leading the fleet through the six qualifying fleet races which shaped the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2025 Season Grand Final, presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council. The Danes\u2019 become the eighth winner of the 2025 Season \u2013 the Rolex SailGP Championship\u2019s most competitive to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ROCKWOOL Racing driver Nicolai Sehested said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been in a lot of Finals and come so close so many times, so it\u2019s good to get it off our backs \u2013 it\u2019s been hanging there for a while. In the team base you could smell it for a long time. Hopefully this is a new beginning for us, where we can clear our minds, reset and just go racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"United <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n United States SailGP Team earned its first points of the season with a fifth-place finish in Abu Dhabi. Over the season, the US team earned the most penalty points, at 18, and finished 12th overall. <\/span>\n Felix Diemer for SailGP<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

With their names now etched in Rolex SailGP history, Emirates GBR pocketed $2.4 million in prize money this weekend alone \u2013 claiming $2 million for the Grand Final race and an additional $400K for highest season points. Across the season, Emirates GBR picked up a staggering $4.4 million, while the Black Foils earned $1.76 million and Australia $1.2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wishing the 2025 Season winners well, SailGP CEO and co-founder Sir Russell Coutts said, \u201cAn enormous congratulations to Emirates GBR \u2013 our 2025 Season Rolex SailGP Champions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coutts continued, \u201cThe 2025 Season has been SailGP\u2019s most competitive to date, with new teams making their mark and established powers pushed like never before. Throughout, Emirates GBR has provided one of the most compelling performances of the season \u2013 so it\u2019s only fitting they finish the year on top, beating the world\u2019s best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere in the fleet, battle lines were drawn \u2013 with just under two months until the 2026 Season begins in a new venue. The Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix presented by KPMG will unfold in January 17-18, 2026 with 13 teams, the largest fleet in SailGP history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A light-wind series of races in Abu Dhabi brought SailGP’s Season 5 to an end with Emirates GBR taking the winner-takes-all finale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":82793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"SailGP Media","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[1446,3060],"class_list":["post-82791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-sailgp","tag-season-5"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}