Dylan Fletcher has driven the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team to third place on Race Day 1 in Dubai.
It was Fletcher’s first time racing in the Driver role for Ben Ainslie’s British team, with the crew securing a result of 5-8-2 in the three fleet races on Saturday. This takes the crew to third on the leaderboard, behind New Zealand in second and Australia in first. Two more fleet races will take place on Sunday before the top three teams progress to the final podium race to decide the winner of the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas.
Speaking after the three races on day one, Fletcher, Driver of Emirates GBR, said: “It was a good first day for us and it’s great to be in the mix going into tomorrow. It was quite tricky out there for me and I made some schoolboy errors in the starts of the first two races, but I felt like once we were over the start line we were overtaking boats nicely, which bodes well for the rest of the season. The team did a great job out there, especially keeping me in check and helping me out. We know we’ve got to take each race as it comes and we kept fighting and kept digging out there and managed to get in a strong position for tomorrow.”
Conditions were tricky in Mina Rashid with all 11 national teams battling to get their 50-foot catamarans foiling in the light airs. Due to the light conditions, all teams were racing with the largest 29m wings on their F50s and crews were reduced from six athletes on-board, to five for the first race and just four in the second and third races. This meant Emirates GBR Strategist, Hannah Mills, had to step in to the Grinder position, providing the power to manoeuvre the 29m wing.
The starts proved to be crucial in all three races, with the teams crossing the line first stretching away from the rest of the fleet. The United States team converted a strong start into a win in the opening race of the event, while race two saw a great start for Canada and new team Mubadala Brazil, with the pair going head-to-head in a light wind drag race to Mark 1. But Canada pushed Mubadala Brazil wide, causing the fledgling team to drop behind the rest of the fleet and finish 10th, while Canada, driven by Fletcher’s predecessor Giles Scott, took the win. Despite having difficult starts in the first two races, Emirates GBR managed to progress through the fleet along the course, gaining seven places on one leg in race one.
An expertly timed run up to the start line saw the Aussies scream into a crowded line up in the third fleet race, win the sprint to Mark 1 and pop up onto the foils to pull away. Emirates GBR was hot on their heels with the crew manging to fly on their foils and almost overtake Australia round the first mark, but Australia stretched ahead to cross the finish line in first, with Emirates GBR taking second.
Emirates GBR Strategist Hannah Mills said: “It was pretty tight racing and the fleet was super compact out there. There were gains and losses all over the course, it was a real game of snakes and ladders. We were using the 29m wing, which is the biggest, and it was the first time for Dylan. It feels pretty different with the bigger wing as it’s much heavier so it was good to get used to that. It was a strong end to the day with a second place finish and the main thing is we are in the hunt tomorrow.”
Tinie Tempah, one of the most successful UK rappers of all time with seven number one singles, performed for the crowds of SailGP fans at Mina Rashid. Before performing his biggest tracks, Tinie Tempah got the SailGP lowdown from Emirates GBR’s CEO Ben Ainslie.
It’s all to race for on day two of the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas, with all teams hoping to end the debut event of the Rolex SailGP Championship’s 2025 Season on a high. Racing resumes on Sunday and UK viewers can follow all the action live on TNT Sports from 10:00 GMT.
