{"id":80194,"date":"2026-09-03T19:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/80194\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T19:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:11:11","slug":"sailgp-five-things-to-watch-in-valencia-scuttlebutt-sailing-news-providing-sailing-news-for-sailors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/80194\/","title":{"rendered":"SailGP: Five things to watch in Valencia >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News: Providing sailing news for sailors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The SailGP league moves to a new race course on September 5-6 in Valencia, Spain. Here are five things to watch as the F50 fleet competes in the Mediterranean Sea:<\/p>\n

Can anyone stop Australia?
Tom Slingsby\u2019s team arrive in Valencia having won five events this season, including the most recent Grand Prix in Sassnitz, with their grip on the Rolex SailGP Championship tightening. The big question now is whether anyone can actually live with the Aussies over the final four events. That said, despite a 20\u2013point lead over fourth placed USA, they\u2019re not mathematically guaranteed a spot in the season-deciding Grand Final just yet.<\/p>\n

Vamos Los Gallos
If you\u2019re a fan of the Spanish team, this weekend is huge. Diego Bot\u00edn, Florian Trittel, and Co. get to race in front of a packed home crowd as Valencia takes over from Cadiz as the home of the Spain Sail Grand Prix. Los Gallos have proven they can win under pressure, taking victories in Halifax and Portsmouth, so a home triumph would be quite the story. However, their track record at home is relatively poor by their standards \u2013 they\u2019ve never made a Final in Spain.<\/p>\n

The championship fight is getting serious
With only three events remaining after Valencia, every point suddenly carries more weight. The teams chasing the Bonds Flying Roos can\u2019t afford a mediocre weekend, while the Aussies have the luxury of protecting a lead rather than chasing one. The real battle right now is for third in the championship standings. The teams in fourth to seventh \u2013 Emirates GBR, USA, DS Team France, and NorthStar \u2013 are split by just six points.<\/p>\n

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Last call for Emirates GBR?
The reigning champions have had a disappointing run, struggling in Halifax, Portsmouth, and Sassnitz, and now face a rapidly closing championship window. Valencia is one of the last chances for Dylan Fletcher\u2019s team to rediscover the consistency that made them champions last season.<\/p>\n

Welcome to a brand-new racecourse
Nobody has raced an F50 in Valencia before. The city has a serious sailing pedigree, but SailGP\u2019s tight, high-speed stadium racing will provide a completely new challenge. SailGP weather guru Chris Bedford predicts a lighter weekend<\/a> compared to previous Grands Prix \u2013 and that could shake things up considerably among the fleet.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Schedule: Race times both days are 13:30-15:00 CEST (07:30-09:00 EDT)
\u2022 Crew list: https:\/\/sailgp.com\/news\/26\/revealed-full-crew-lists-spain-sail-grand-prix-valencia\/<\/a><\/p>\n

SailGP information<\/a> \u2013 Valencia details<\/a> \u2013 How to watch<\/a><\/p>\n

Season 6 Results (after 9 of 13 events)
1. Australia, Tom Slingsby (AUS), 2-1-5-1-1-1-4-7-1, 76 points
2. Spain, Diego Botin (ESP), 12-3-3-2-2-12-1-1-3, 62
3. Sweden, Nathan Outteridge (AUS), 4-5-9-3-11-5-2-2-5, 53
4. Great Britain, Dylan Fletcher (GBR), 1-2-2-12-4-2-11-11-9, 46
5. United States, Taylor Canfield (USA), 5-7-1-4-7-6-6-6-11, 46
6. France, Quentin Delapierre (FRA), 3-4*-13-8-9-4-10-8-6, 41
7. Canada, Giles Scott (CAN\/GBR), 6-10-11-10-6-3-8-3-2, 40
8. Germany, Erik Heil (GER), 9-6-8-6-3-11-7-10-7, 32
9. Switzerland, S\u00e9bastien Schneiter (SUI), 11-12-10-11-5-8-3-4-8, 28
10. Denmark, Nicolai Sehested (DEN), 8-9-6-5-7-12-9-10, 25
11. Italy, Phil Robertson (NZL), 7-13-4-7-8-9-9-12-12, 22
12. New Zealand, Peter Burling (NZL), 13-8-12-13-13-13-5-5-4, 21
13. Brazil, Martine Grael\/Paul Goodison (BRA\/GBR), 10-11-7-9-12-10-13-13-13, 8
* Received compensation points for Sydney due to boat damage in Event 2.<\/p>\n

Season 6 \u2013 2026 Schedule:
\u2022 Jan 17-18 \u2013 Perth, Australia
\u2022 Feb 14-15 \u2013 Auckland, New Zealand
\u2022 Feb 28-March 1 \u2013 Sydney, Australia
\u2022 Apr 11-12\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
\u2022 May 9-10 \u2013 Hamilton, Bermuda
\u2022 May 30-31 \u2013 New York, USA
\u2022 June 20-21 \u2013 Halifax, Canada
\u2022 July 25-26- Portsmouth, GBR
\u2022 August 22-23 \u2013 Sassnitz, Germany
\u2022 Sept 5-6 \u2013 Valencia, Spain
\u2022 Sept 19-20 \u2013 Geneva, Switzerland
\u2022 Nov 21-22 \u2013 Dubai, UAE
\u2022 Nov 28-29 \u2013 Abu Dhabi, UAE
Note: The 11th event was moved to Geneva from Saint-Tropez, France.<\/p>\n

Season 6 format:
\u2022 Thirteen teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
\u2022 Each event is two days.
\u2022 The league has shifted<\/a> to a split fleet format for qualifying, using season standings to balance the two groups.
\u2022 The top two from each fleet advance to a 4-boat final race for the event title.
\u2022 The season ends with the Grand Final event which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing.
\u2022 All league teams are privately owned, with New Zealand as the last to be acquired on June 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

Season 6 prize money:
A total of USD $12.8 million is up for grabs in 2026. The winner of each of the 13 events takes home $400,000, with $260,000 for second and $140,000 for third. The team with the most points at the end of the season wins $400,000, while the team that wins the Championship Final Race wins USD $2 million.<\/p>\n

F50 Configuration:
All teams use same configuration based on weather forecast. There are four wingsail sizes (18m, 24m, 27.5m, and 29m), six jib sizes<\/a>, two T-foil daggerboards (high-speed and low-speed), and one set of rudders with high-speed and low-speed settings.<\/p>\n

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.<\/p>\n

Source: SailGP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The SailGP league moves to a new race course on September 5-6 in Valencia, Spain. Here are five…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15738,30087,95],"class_list":["post-80194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-valencia","tag-sailgp","tag-sailgp-valencia","tag-valencia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}