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Sailing News for November 17, 2025

The 2026 Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix is set to turn the Hudson into a floating grandstand with premium spectator boats and front-row spray for fans. Inshore, the PredictWind A-Class Worlds brought full drama to Auckland with gusts, rain squalls, and high-speed duels. The ARC Rally’s Cape Verde pit stop proves a sailor’s best friend mid-Atlantic, while World Sailing’s annual conference wrapped in Dun Laoghaire with big wins for inclusivity and new leadership. Meet Sydney’s busiest sailing family keeping Red Pumps flying high, marvel at Wally’s blistering new Wallyrocket 71, and ride along as one solo sailor takes his ex-race cat Rogue One on a wild sprint from Australia to Hawaii.

Sail GP/America’s Cup

“Everything to Gain”: Dylan Fletcher on Emirates GBR’s Chase for SailGP Glory (6 min read)
Dylan Fletcher heads into the SailGP Grand Final in Abu Dhabi with Emirates GBR riding a wave of consistency and a rock-solid partnership with strategist Hannah Mills. After a mid-season wobble in the U.S., the team regrouped, crushed it in Europe and now enter the finale basically locked into the three-boat showdown. Light winds, a new mega-wing and a stacked field of Olympic talent set the stage for a knife-edge fight. Fletcher says they’re prepped, confident and ready to send it when it counts.

Inshore & Offshore Racing

Winner’s Debrief: Quantum Racing’s World Championship Effort (6 min read)
Quantum Racing clawed out their eighth TP52 world title in Cascais by mixing raw talent with a steady diet of what skipper Terry Hutchinson calls meat and potatoes sailing. The team pushed hard in big breeze, sometimes too hard, including one spectacular top-mark fumble that snowballed fast. But their evolving young squad brought fresh ideas, like a downwind trim tweak that instantly made them the fastest boat on the course. In a fleet where one slip drops you from fifth to seventh, discipline and boatspeed ruled the week.

B14 NSW State Titles at Woollahra Sailing Club (4 min read)
Light, shifty Sydney Harbour served up a tactical minefield for the B14 State Titles, and The Nude (AUS800) made the most of it with three razor-thin wins on Day 1. Day 2 brought a touch more breeze and a shakeup, with Snatch (AUS375) and B Flat (AUS353) punching back hard. In the end, Richie Reynolds and Lissa McMillan sealed the scratch title while Tim Brazier and Katy Denney topped the handicap. Champagne boat renamings, tight finishes and a fleet full of characters made it a classic Woollahra weekend.

Olympic Class/Dinghy Sailing

Is the Olympic Sailing Medal Becoming Just a Participation Trophy? (6 min read)
Matt Sheahan sounds the alarm on proposed 2028 format changes that could turn Olympic Sailing into a TV-friendly lottery. Plans for tiny fleets, three days of racing and a single winner-takes-all final mean season-long consistency could get nuked by one fluky race. He points to Emma Wilson’s 31-point lead evaporating into bronze as a preview of the chaos. Sheahan argues the fix isn’t gimmicks for broadcasters but better venues and proper racing that still rewards the best sailors in the world.

Cruising

What I Discovered on My First Arctic Sailing Trip (10 min read)
JoJo Pickering takes a Swan 48 down Norway’s west coast and learns fast that Arctic sailing means cold deck watches, deep anchorages and weather that changes its mind every hour. The tradeoff is unreal scenery from towering Lofoten peaks to glacier-fed fjords that feel like another planet. Along the way she battles a broken alternator, dodgy headlands, surprise whales and the magic of endless daylight. Her takeaway: Norway is huge, wild and completely worth the effort.

Foiling

A-Class Worlds: Saturday Races and One Champion Crowned (6 min read)
A massive front delayed racing at the A-Class Worlds, but once the storm cleared the beach filled with curious onlookers and 9m rigs ready to fly. The Open fleet delivered pure chaos and brilliance as Kuba Surowiec and Ravi Parent traded blows all day, with shifts, botched laylines and 25-plus-knot downwinds keeping the title fight razor tight. In the Classics, Polish sailor Jacek Noetzel sealed his long-awaited world crown with two confident wins. One day remains, and the Open title is still wide open.

Sailing Highlight of the Day

JoyRider TV took the brand-new American Nacra 20 for a spin in barely-there breeze, and the thing still felt lively enough to fly a hull with two on the wire. It’s basically a road-legal, narrower take on the Nacra 20 FCS, with carbon hulls, big foils and a modern kite package that makes it feel like a lighter, stiffer, more civilized Tornado. Even at 6 knots they were grinning, and the early verdict is clear: this is a legit next-gen 20-footer for anyone who wants serious performance without the hassle of a trailer-width monster.