SailGP Hots Up!

Today was an Official SailGP Training Day and our Shipping & Sailing Correspondent, Jean Hudson was at the Port and Bathers Beach to take in all the action and meet the top WA sailors competing in this amazing event. Here’s her report!

Today, Fremantle Shipping News attended a media call at the Oracle Perth Sail GP Grand Prix, presented at the KPMG Tech site. And what a day it was!

Victoria Quay’s E Berth, the area between the Passenger Terminal and D Shed at Fremantle Port, has become home to all thirteen F50 boats.

Each boat has its own hanger. Two large cranes lift the boats in and out of the water before and after sailing sessions. We had the opportunity to witness several boats being craned into the water. This is tricky manoeuvre and with each boat worth over 5 million AUD$, there is no room for error.

The boats then headed out to the ocean for a training session.

I had the opportunity to sit in the Grandstand that will seat 7,000 spectators.

And then I got to watch the boats take to the water for their first official practice session. They charged by at hair-raising speeds!

Freo has a strong sailing history, so it’s no surprise that several Australian sailors are now competing across multiple SailGP teams, not just BONDS Flying Roos, but also EMIRATES GREAT BRITAIN, winners of the 2025 Grand Final, and the ROCKWOOL Denmark SailGP Team.

Western Australian SailGP athletes later came together for interviews and photos to celebrate the arrival of this global sporting spectacle in their home waters. And here they are!

Tom Johnson

Tom was born in Mandurah and was a 49er and Moth sailor before leaping into the Volvo Ocean Race in 2014. Then he joined up with Team Oracle USA in the Americas Cup as a young wing trimmer. In 2018 he sailed with SailGP Team USA. He’s now wing trimmer on ROCKWOOL Denmark SailGP Team and lives in Denmark.

Luke Payne

Luke hails from Fremantle. He’s now one of the world’s most in-demand grinders and has competed in some of the top sailing events in the world. He has earned a reputation as a powerhouse on the pumps. He raced with the Japanese SailGPTeam in 2021. He now sails with ROCKWOOL Denmark SailGP Team, his position is of course ‘Grinder’.

Luke ‘Parko’ Parkinson

Luke began sailing at 5 years of age in a mirror dinghy in Fremantle Sailing Club. He has since gone on to compete in one Youth Americas’s Cup, three America’s Cups, Two Volvo Ocean Races and four SailGP seasons. He joined EMIRATES GBR SailGP Team having already raced with the Japanese SailGP Team. Luke said it was ‘awesome to be back racing in Fremantle surrounded by family and friends. He recently completed the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race to keep fit.

Kinly Fowler

Kinley is an another Freo local and began sailing with his Dad on a 24ft keelboat out of RPYC and has been racing at an international level since he was a teenager. He’s a ‘Grinder’ onboard BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team. Kinley said that ‘he always dreamed of sailing around the world and despite being beaten in the finals in Dubai, he can’t wait to race in local waters with his family looking on.

Iain Jensen

Iain ‘Goobs’ Jenson OAM, is another Aussie onboard Bonds Flying Roos SailGP. Iain began sailing at 5 years of age and is an Australian Olympic Gold Medalist. He joined the Aussie team recently as ‘Wing Trimmer’. He sailed with the winning EMIRATES GBR SailGP Team in the Grand Final in Dubai. He said he’s delighted to be racing in Australia for the first time in nine years.

Watch this space for more updates. It’s going to be real fun!

*Story and photographs by Jean Hudson @jeansodyssey

Jean Hudson is our Shipping and Sailing Correspondent and also a regular feature writer, reviewer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

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