SailGP: national teams in identical foiling catamarans.

What SailGP is

SailGP is a global league that runs every year. National teams race identical F50 foiling catamarans, so the boats are one-design and no handicap is involved. Racing is inshore, in harbor venues, and each season ends with a Grand Final; in Season 5 (2025) it was a three-boat final.

According to Wikipedia (a secondary source), SailGP was founded in 2018 by Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts, and its first season, in 2019, had six teams.

Season champions

Wikipedia lists the champions as follows. The 2024-25 entry is the season SailGP numbered Season 5, which finished in November 2025.

Sailing World notes that Great Britain was the third team ever to win the championship. The two earlier winners in Wikipedia's list are Australia and Spain.

Season 5 (2025): Great Britain

Emirates Great Britain, driven by Dylan Fletcher, won the three-boat Grand Final in Abu Dhabi on 29 and 30 November 2025. Australia finished second and New Zealand third. Great Britain also won three events during the season, more than any other team.

Season 5 was planned as 14 events, but 12 were sailed after cancellations and a change of venue. The season purse was USD 12 million.

Season 6 (2026)

The 2026 season, as scheduled:

• 13 teams, including a new Swedish entry, the Artemis SailGP Team.
• 13 two-day events, from Perth on 17 and 18 January 2026 to Abu Dhabi on 28 and 29 November 2026.
• USD 12.8 million in total prize money, including USD 2 million for winning the Championship Final race.

On 22 September 2026 Abu Dhabi confirmed that the Grand Final will be held on 28 and 29 November 2026 at Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental.

Where the standings stand, as of October 2026

Spain won the Geneva event on 19 and 20 September 2026, with Australia second. After Geneva, Australia led the season standings with 94 points to Spain's 78 and had already qualified for the Grand Final.

The 2026 champion has not been decided. As of 19 October 2026, two events remained: Dubai on 21 and 22 November and the Abu Dhabi Grand Final on 28 and 29 November 2026.

SailGP and the America's Cup

Both are top-level foiling events, but they are organized differently. SailGP is a season-long league of national teams racing identical F50 catamarans at a series of venues, ending in a Grand Final. The America's Cup is a match race between a defending club and a challenger chosen through the Louis Vuitton Cup, raced in AC75 monohulls; the 38th edition is set for Naples in July 2027. At least one sailor is linked to both: Tom Slingsby, a three-time SailGP champion driver, is reported as skipper of an Australian America's Cup challenge, though that rests on a secondary source. See the America's Cup.