Following a successful home event in Portsmouth last month, Emirates GBR is back in action this weekend at the Germany Sail Grand Prix in Sassnitz. The event marks the Rolex SailGP Championship’s debut in Germany, with more than 11,000 fans expected to descend on the Race Stadium for a shoreside view of the adrenaline-fuelled racing. Emirates GBR Driver Dylan Fletcher said the team would “need to bring our A-Game”, with tricky conditions forecast and just four points separating them from the top spot of the championship leaderboard.
At the pre-event Press Conference in Sassnitz, a controversial penalty in Portsmouth was a hot topic of discussion. It occurred as NorthStar and ROCKWOOL Denmark were coming into a leeward gate on starboard tack with right of way, while the Brits and Aussies were on port. The umpires ruled that the Aussies, as the most outside boat in the lineup, took avoiding action too late and did not allow the British sufficient room to keep clear, so the Aussies were penalised. Austalia’s BONDS Flying Roos Driver Tom Slingsby said he disagreed with the call and thought the Brits should have been penalised.
Discussing the penalty, Fletcher said: “It was a very tight situation, the racecourse in Portsmouth meant it was always tight coming into the first gate. Ultimately, we agree with the umpire decision and we didn’t think we had the room available.”
In July, Emirates GBR placed second at the team’s first home event in three years, the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth. New Zealand’s Black Foils SailGP Team took the win, and in turn the top spot on the 2025 Season leaderboard. Emirates GBR currently sits in fourth heading into the Sassnitz race weekend, but with just four points separating them from the Kiwis in first – it’s all to race for.
Speaking on Emirates GBR’s performance in Portsmouth, Fletcher said: “The team was focused on delivering a good performance and we certainly felt the pressure at our home event, but it was fantastic to get a strong result, although of course we were disappointed to not take the win, but it was great to bounce back in Portsmouth from some difficult US events.”
SailGP’s behind-the-scenes documentary series, Racing On The Edge, has offered viewers a unique insight into what it means for Emirates GBR’s Driver Dylan Fletcher to be performing well with the team, after dramatically losing his role as a Driver in the league when Sir Ben Ainslie took over the British team in Season 2 of SailGP.
Fletcher said he “completely understood” why the change happened, but revealed it was “incredibly tough” as he thought he “may never drive an F50 ever again”.
“I actually ended up working behind the scenes in SailGP, doing some work in hospitality,” he said.
“It was a bit of swallowing your ego, swallowing my pride. But that time gave me a real insight into what makes a successful team and that it’s not just about winning races, it’s about being successful commercially too.”
Fletcher added: “It was a real circle of events that it was Ben that I lost the Driver role to, but then a few years later it was him that gave me the opportunity to get back in to SailGP as Driver of his team.”
Looking ahead to this weekend, Sassnitz’s location in the north-east of the island of Rugen means it is known for flat waters – which combined with a promising forecast of up to 18 knots could see the 12 F50s blasting round the racecourse in champagne conditions.
Fletcher said: “I don’t think anyone here has sailed in Sassnitz before, but we had a fantastic first day out on the water yesterday and it looks like it’s going to be good for the weekend. It’s another difficult racecourse and we had some waves today, it’s going to be offshore, shifty and patchy for the weekend, so we need to bring our A-game – like we do every day.”
UK viewers can watch all the action from the Germany Sail Grand Prix | Sassnitz live on TNT Sports from 14:30 BST on Saturday and Sunday.
