Stu Bithell will tell you he’s just a simple man from the north of England. Just ask him what drives him, and the answer comes quickly: his family, and a burning desire to be the best. Nothing more complicated than that.
It’s an honest bit of self-assessment from a sailor who’s spent the 2026 Season adjusting to life on a new team, in a new home, and with a young family watching from the dock. Bithell joined Emirates GBR at the start of the season, moving on from Germany presented by Deutsche Bank into the wing trimmer seat vacated by Iain ‘Goobs’ Jensen at the end of 2025.
Bithell has been a feature of SailGP since its inception in 2019, initially with the Brits then the Swiss and German teams. Despite his experience the move was, by his own admission, no mean feat.
The move happened through a familiar face. Before Emirates GBR boss Sir Ben Ainslie called himself, he sent Dylan Fletcher – Emirates GBR’s driver, and Bithell’s sailing partner when the pair won 49er gold together at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – to sound him out first.
“Ben sent his minion, Dylan, to have a quick chat first!” Bithell joked. “Once I’d shown interest, and contractually everything was possible, Ben gave me a call and we started talking through the details. Before I knew it, we were on the start line together in Perth.”
Despite adjusting to a new team line-up, results followed – Perth 2026 delivered a podium, but since then they have struggled with boat damage, a reminder of how unforgiving this league can be.
“Halifax [Canada] was disappointing because we had a bit of a major issue there, so we’ll be working hard going into Portsmouth,” he said. Racing at home brings its own weight. “Of course there’s extra pressure racing at home because we want to perform for the home crowd.”
Last year Peter Burling and the New Zealand Black Foils clinched the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix, with the British team second.
Bithell . . . “We go into every event trying to win it,” he said. “Does finishing second automatically mean failure? Maybe not, especially when you’ve brought in a new team member and you’re building together. But success, for us, looks like winning.”
It’s that same relentlessness that defines him away from the water, even if the scenery has changed. Bithell is now a husband to Kat and a dad to young son Alfie, and he’s candid about how fatherhood has reshaped his world without touching his edge.
“Life away from sailing has changed a lot with having a family, but once I get to the racecourse the goal is exactly the same. I still want to be the best I can be. That hasn’t changed at all.”
What has changed is the hardest part of the job. “Walking through the front door when I get home is easy,” Bithell said. “Walking back out again and getting yourself into race mode is the bigger challenge.” He’s built himself a small gym and workspace at home to help make that switch, carving out the space to prepare without losing time with Kat and Alfie.
The 2026 Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix takes place in Portsmouth on July 25-26, with entertainment from pop sensations Jess Glynne and Craig David.
This will be a full 13 team event and the British team are now tied for second overall on the Circuit with Spain’s Los Gallos, behind Tom Slingsby and the Bonds Flying Roos. The target is SailGP’s winner-takes-all Grand Final that features the top three teams at the end of the season.
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