The sky-high stakes of SailGP

For Geneva watchmaker Rolex, time is a matter of precision, but in the realm of human experience it is a slippery beast, speeding up or standing still under the weight of emotion. At the Rolex SailGP Championship in Portsmouth in July, where 12 international crews, bristling with Olympic champions, battled on the Solent, time seemed to vanish altogether. These F50 catamarans, more akin to fighter jets than traditional yachts, don’t merely sail; they fly on carbon-fibre and titanium foils, skimming the water at speeds up to 54 knots (100 km/h), quadrupling the wind’s pace. Weighing just 2,400kg, depending on whether the six-person crew skipped lunch, these vessels push the boundaries of aeronautical physics, thrilling 20,000 shoreside spectators and drawing celebrity investors, including Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds (jointly backing the Australian team) and Anne Hathaway (supporting Italy).

Rolex testimonee Sir Ben Ainslie, the most decorated Olympic sailor, now helms the British team as CEO. Reflecting on the series’ ascent since its 2018 inception, he says, ‘SailGP has completely transformed the sport of sailing. We’re now seeing that it’s not only commercially viable but can be an example to other sports too, due to the way that it has been set up with the modern model, cost controls and sustainability at its core.’ From zero viewers to over 20 million globally per event in 2025, the league’s trajectory mirrors its boats’ blistering speeds.

Founded by Oracle’s Larry Ellison and legendary sailor Sir Russell Coutts, SailGP brings Formula One’s intensity to water. Unlike the America’s Cup, where custom yachts fuel a technological arms race, SailGP’s identical F50s level the playing field, placing the spotlight on crew skill and strategy. Chief technical officer Warren Jones, collaborating with Oracle, harnesses 240,000 data points per second to optimise performance. At one stage of development, the foils, designed to minimise drag, once moved so fast they caused cavitation, essentially boiling the water under extreme pressure. ‘Move fast and break things’ have never been more apt.

On Portsmouth’s obstacle-strewn course, a faint breeze barely stirred, yet the F50s surged, their tethered crew members – clad like fighter pilots – darting across cockpits as the boats pivoted with precision. In charge of strategy for the British team is Hannah Mills, one of the most decorated female sailors and also a Rolex testimonee. ‘I stand right in the back and my role primarily is to avoid crashes. If we have one, it’s probably my fault. Beyond that, I’m working with the driver Dylan Fletcher and the wing trimmer to get around the race course as fast as possible, taking into account all the other boats, the wind, the course, obstacles and all of the information that I’m gathering through data screens. And at high speed!’ she tells The Blend.

Each crew member, many drawn from America’s Cup campaigns, is vital. Mills notes, ‘The flight control and the wing trimmer, their dynamic is critical to keeping the platform stable and getting through the manoeuvres as efficiently as possible. The driver requires the right level of anticipation and bravery to put the boat where you need to without putting it in too much danger. Then the guys at the front doing the grinding, the really physical work, without them it all falls apart.’ Ainslie adds, ‘It doesn’t take much at all to go wrong, and before you know it, the race is over.’

Partner since SailGP’s launch and Title Partner since 2024, Rolex’s involvement marks nearly seven decades of sailing patronage, beginning with its 1958 partnership with the New York Yacht Club. In 1927, Rolex pioneered sports ambassadorship when Mercedes Gleitze wore an Oyster to swim the English Channel, emerging after 10 hours with the watch ticking perfectly. SailGP sees Rolex once again championing female competitors, with rules mandating at least one woman per team, often as strategist. Brazil’s Martine Grael, however, is at the helm of her boat, winning a race in New York earlier in the year. ‘Seeing Martine doing well is such a powerful, positive thing for all women in the sport because it shows that it’s the right thing to have women driving and that they can compete with the guys,’ says Mills.

SailGP’s Impact League, a ‘podium for the planet’, gamifies sustainability and social good, rewarding teams with prize money for their Purpose Partners. The British team, defending champions, leads by example, but teams are always looking to find an edge. Indeed, one of the grinders in the Swiss team, who goes by the moniker of ‘Shrek’, cycled from just outside London for the event in Portsmouth to cut emissions.

Sailing’s exclusivity, Ainslie admits, is a challenge: ‘It’s why Hannah and I founded the Athena Pathway programme to identify talent, but it’s not just for sailors, it’s also for shore team engineers or the commercial team. We want the sport to have longevity, while also accelerating change right now.’ Watching the 20,000-strong crowd in Portsmouth roar on one side of the course, while a flotilla of local boats looked on from the other, it’s clear that this sport has the wind in its sails.