FROM CHAOS TO CONTROL: THE FLYING ROOS TAKE SASSNITZ

France reset the speed record. Germany nailed the weather call. New Zealand finally made a Final. But the defining story of Sassnitz was Australia turning an earlier mistake into their fifth win of the season.

Winners in Sassnitz: Bonds Flying Roos - Victory 5 this season (c) SailP

Sassnitz delivered two completely different SailGP events in one weekend. Saturday was about outright speed, with the F50s regularly breaking 100 km/h and France setting a new SailGP record at 107.63 km/h. Sunday was about something else entirely. Heavy rain. Patchy breeze. Boats dropping off the foils. Entire races changing shape in seconds. And Australia handled it best.

Tom Slingsby’s BONDS Flying Roos won the four-boat Final ahead of NorthStar Canada, Spain’s Los Gallos and New Zealand’s Black Foils to claim their fifth event win from nine rounds in 2026 and move 14 points clear at the top of the championship.

But the Final only makes sense if you go back to what happened earlier.

THE LESSON CAME FIRST

Australia had already experienced the exact problem that would later define the Final.

In their first race on Sunday they went from first to last when the breeze disappeared.

Slingsby admitted the situation felt familiar when the same thing began happening again in the Final.

“There was massive déjà vu heading into it when the wind started shutting down.”

The difference was that Australia had already learned what not to do. Slingsby said the team worked out how to keep the F50 moving through the dying breeze.

“We learned a lot of lessons in that first race about how to get the boat boiling and find the breeze quickly.”

That became the winning move. In the Final, Australia stayed foiling longer, built a substantial lead and was effectively gone while the other three boats were left fighting for the remaining podium places at walking pace.

AUSTRALIA ALMOST MISSED THE FINAL

The win looks comfortable in hindsight. Getting there wasn’t. Going into their final fleet race, Australia sat third and needed to pass either Artemis Racing or NorthStar Canada to qualify.

Slingsby checked the maths with his coach on the final run.

“We were in third, with boats ahead of us, and we needed to overtake one of them.”

They found the right phase of breeze on the final beat, passed Artemis and squeezed into the Final. That tiny swing changed the entire weekend. Slingsby summed up the wider point with the line that has probably become the quote of Sassnitz:

“Momentum’s a hell of a thing.”

CANADA KEEPS MOVING FORWARD

Giles Scott’s NorthStar team finished second in the Final after another quietly strong weekend.

The interesting detail was not just the result. Scott said Canada felt increasingly able to move forward through the fleet, something the team had struggled to do earlier in the season.

“It felt like we were always stepping forward in the fleet.”

That ability mattered when the Final turned into survival mode.

Australia was long gone. Canada, Spain and New Zealand were all off the foils approaching the line. NorthStar drifted through for second.

SPAIN GETS IT DONE WHEN IT MATTERS

Spain entered its final qualifying race needing a result. Diego Botín delivered. Los Gallos nailed the start, led at Mark 1 and won the race to book their place in the Final. France’s challenge effectively ended after a dramatic nosedive later in the race. Then Spain started the Final last.

Again. And again they worked their way back through the fleet. Botín’s crew passed New Zealand at Gate 4, eventually finishing third after the penalty at the line. Botín said the team had started the weekend slowly but improved steadily.

“We worked for these moments.”

That trajectory now matters even more. The next event is Valencia, 5–6 September. Spain’s home event.

NEW ZEALAND FINALLY MAKES A FINAL

For Peter Burling and the Black Foils, Sassnitz represented progress. New Zealand reached its first event Final of the 2026 season after winning Group A’s Race 4 and qualifying strongly.

Then it unravelled at the worst possible moment.

The Black Foils were caught in the same collapsing breeze as Canada and Spain approaching the finish. New Zealand received a penalty for failing to keep clear of Los Gallos and dropped to fourth. Burling’s verdict was fairly concise.

“When your worst race of the event is the last one, it definitely hurts.”

Still, he saw the bigger picture.

“The team took another step up this weekend.”

The speed is there. Now New Zealand needs the complete weekend.

GERMANY READS THE WEATHER

The home team produced one of Sunday’s standout moments with a dominant win in Race 4.

Germany did not win the start. They won the weather.

Erik Kosegarten-Heil said the team saw the breeze arriving while the boats on the opposite side of the course fell off their foils.

“We saw the breeze coming.”

Germany stayed flying and eventually finished roughly 600 metres ahead of NorthStar Canada.

For the home crowd, it was the moment of the weekend.

But Kosegarten-Heil was equally clear about what Germany still lacks.

“We’re getting down to the details now.”

Starts, manoeuvres, outright speed and adapting more quickly to changing conditions are the small percentages he says still separate Germany from the front consistently.

That matters because the margins across the fleet are shrinking fast.

GBR: SPEED WITHOUT THE RESULT

For reigning champions Emirates GBR, Sassnitz was brutal. They finished ninth overall despite Dylan Fletcher believing the team had actually improved inside the boat.

“We were sailing the boat better, communicating better, everything was feeling good.”

Which made the result harder to swallow.

“It didn’t feel like we deserved the result we walked away with.”

GBR now sits level on points with the U.S. SailGP Team in fourth and 30 points behind Australia.

Fletcher remains convinced they can still reach the top three and make the Grand Final.

But the runway is getting shorter.

ARTEMIS GAINS WITHOUT MAKING THE FINAL

Nathan Outteridge was frustrated after Artemis Racing missed the Final, particularly after being in contention deep into the decisive fleet race.

His description was painfully accurate:

“We managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

But the weekend still moved Artemis forward. Despite missing the Final, the Swedish team climbed into the top three overall in the championship standings.

That tells you how tight the season has become below Australia.

One bad race can cost a Final.

One decent weekend can move you several positions in the championship.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP PICTURE

After nine events, Australia has now won five of them. The Flying Roos leave Sassnitz with a 14-point championship lead and four scheduled events remaining.

Behind them, Artemis has moved into the top three, while GBR and the United States sit level in fourth and 30 points behind Australia. There is still enough racing left to change the order.

But Sassnitz exposed the difference between Australia and almost everyone else.

They were not perfect. They nearly missed the Final. They went first to last earlier in the day.

Then they absorbed the lesson, changed the way they sailed and won the race that mattered most. That may be the more worrying sign for the rest of the fleet.

NEXT: VALENCIA

SailGP now heads to Spain for the inaugural Spain Sail Grand Prix in Valencia, 5–6 September 2026.

Australia arrives with the lead.

Spain arrives at home with another podium.

New Zealand has finally made a Final.

Canada is trending upward.

GBR needs points.

And everyone now knows that Australia does not necessarily need a perfect weekend to win one.

Sometimes they just need one race to learn from.