Well, today, Sunday, three races were scheduled before the exciting, adrenaline fuelled, three-team, winner-takes-all Final. And what a Final it was. What a climax to a fantastic weekend of SailGP F50s sailing.
So, to the beginning of Sunday.
The damage to the NZ Black Foils’ F50 from its contretemps yesterday in Race 1 with the Swiss boat turns out to have been so severe that the Black Foils missed today’s racing, and by all accounts now face a mammoth repair job to make the next Grand Prix in Auckland next month.
To add insult to injury the Black Foils were also penalised seven points by the umpires for the bingle – not the start to 2026 the team was hoping for.
Overnight, however, the SailGP Tech Team were successful in repairing the Swiss F50 and getting her ready for today’s racing. That was welcome news.
Just the same, with the Spanish boat still incapacitated and Black Foils sidelined, only 11 of the 13 strong F50 League fleet made it to the starting line for the first race on Sunday.
As yesterday, the spectators poured into Freo to find their way to the grandstands. Here are some shots our Jean Hudson snapped of the horde heading from the Freo Railway Station to Fleet Street and the big grandstand on South Mole, which holds nigh on 7,000 folk.
And once near the grandstand at South Mole there was no shortage of welcome entertainment!
And this is what the South Mole grandstand scene was like today for Jean Hudson, in her Media position quite close to the finish line!
The racing today was brilliant. Seasoned sailors told us these were the toughest conditions the GP teams are likely to confront this season. The Freo Doctor was in, big time.
Overnight, Artemis Sweden looked a moral to finish the first three races in the top three and make the Final, but it didn’t work out that way. EMIRATES GBR turned on a very consistent two day performance, as did the French. Then the Aussies in BONDS Flying Roos surprised some, and certainly pleased their supporters, by skipping home in the last of the qualifiers to make the top three. So the Final winner-takes-all race, with an $800,000 winner’s purse, was a sail off between Emirates GBR, DS Automobiles France and BONDS Flying Roos.
After a starting penalty put the Tom Slingsby skippered Flying Roos behind at the start, it was pretty much a one boat race for the next 15 minutes. Emirates GBR looked uncatchable, and they were.
The most exciting part of the Final was the fight for second. Just when it appeared Flying Roos would easily hop into second place, DS France came from the clouds. Perhaps their skipper motivated the team with a quick, ‘Don’t forget how the Aussie PM Morrison dudded our President Macron on the submarine deal’. If so, it nearly worked, except it didn’t. Flying Roos fell over the line into second!
Courtesy SailGP
Here’s some of the action from the three earlier races.
And here are some super snaps by Jean Hudson of the Final.
And then it was in to the presentations on Bathers Beach, where the winners are Grinners!
And the fans just loved it!
So now SailGP Freo is at an end. What a complete blast the 2026 Rolex SailGP Freo has been. We tip our caps to Sir Russell Coutts, CEO of SailGP, all the SailGP people who worked tirelessly to make it a success, and especially all the amazingly talented GP sailors who made this F50s racing weekend the event that it was.
We must also acknowledge the wisdom of the WA Government in recognising that Fremantle is the jewel in the State’s tourism crown, and for putting in the SailGP kitty whatever it was they put in to make SailGP happen in Freo, not only this year but over the next two as well. Well done Premier, Deputy Premier and Tourism Minister and Tourism WA. 🙏🌻🥇
We can’t wait until this time next year when the GP League returns for the 2027 season!
Until then, we are your humble FSN reporters,
Michael Barker and 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.
Michael Barker is the Editor, Fremantle Shipping News
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