Day 1 of the Rockwool Germany Sail Grand Prix opened in Sassnitz Saturday, the ninth event of the Rolex SailGP Championship 2026 Season.
A grey day weather wise with the breeze around 33km/h (18 knots). The 13 F50s were racing in the two fleet format, with three races for each Group.
Group A included: ESP Los Gallos, SUI Explora Swiss, NZL Black Foils, FRA DS Team France, DEN ROCKWOOL Racing, ITA Red Bull Italy and BRA Mubadala Brazil.
Their first race had a fast start by Swiss team of Sebastien Schneiter, but it was Pete Burling and the Black Foils who took the lead to win, 16 secs ahead of the Swiss with third Phil Robertson and the Red Bull Italy team.
Race 2 was an all French affair, Quentin Delapierre’s DS Autobobiles France leading from the start to finish ahead of Burling with Denmark’s Rockwool Racing of Nicolai Sehested in third.
The final race involved both Spain’s Los Gallos and Denmark’s Rockwool Racing starting fast and then crashing out at the first mark, to allow Delapierre to take the lead. Diego Botin got the Spanish back in front and held off the French to take a 10 sec win, with Burling taking third.
After the day 1 session Burling leads Group A from Quentin Delapierre with Botin third tied on 7 pts with Schneiter.
The first two from each Group contest the Final after Sunday’s racing.
Group B included: GBR Emirates GBR, SWE Artemis, CAN NorthStar, USA The US Team, AUS BONDS Flying Roos, and GER Germany SailGP Team/Deutsche Bank.
This was very much the Tom Slingsby show, taking the Bonds Flying Roos to big race wins in the first two races and although getting it wrong in the third , finishing top of the Group and three points clear of the Group A leaders.
The first race was another starting disaster for Dylan Fletcher and Emirates GBR, finishing 5 of 6, while Slingsby finished 24 secs ahead of Giles Scott’s Northstar, with Nathan Outteridge and Artemis third.
Race 2 was another runaway win for Slingsby, with Fletcher finishing second after another slow start. Third again was Outteridge and Artemis.
Race 3 was one for the home crowd to cheer about . . . Erik Kosegarten-Heil and Germany by Deutsche Bank nailing the start and led all the way, with second Scott’s Northstar followed by Outteridge and Artemis making it a ‘hat-trick’ of third places.
After the day 1 session, Slingsby leads Group B, with second Outteridge and third Giles Scott.
The British team will need a real sustained change of pace to break into the top two, their 5, 2, 4 performance looking very mediocre in this company.
The Rockwool Germany Sail Grand Prix continues Sunday 23 August, with the 13 teams still split into two fleets. A further four Group races on Sunday, before the top four teams then progress into the winner-takes-all event final.