Rio SailGP race weekend cancelled after wingsail defect found in F50 catamarans

New York Times

10-04-2025

May's SailGP Championship event which was set to be held in Rio de Janeiro for the first time has been cancelled after a defect was found in some of the fleet's wingsails.
Before the start of the final 11-boat race in San Francisco in March, Australia's wingsail — the rigid, vertical sail that powers the F50 catamarans used in the Championship — shattered into pieces in a moment team leader Tom Slingsby later called a 'scary situation'.
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The testing and analysis that followed Australia's wingsail collapse found a problem which could 'potentially compromise the structural integrity of those wingsails,' said SailGP CEO Russell Coutts in a statement.
Coutts said the safety of the athletes was the 'key priority' and added that he was confident all 12 teams would be ready to race in New York in June despite the 'big job ahead'.
'After thorough review, our engineers and technicians have discovered an issue with the bonding of the core material in the shear web of some of the wingsails,' the statement read.
'As such, we've made the prudent choice to suspend next month's event, giving us sufficient time to complete repairs and conduct any further investigations.'
Wing failure onboard Australia 🤯
Happy to account for no injuries onboard, the cause of the incident is not yet known #SailGP pic.twitter.com/tw0YrZo72O
— SailGP (@SailGP) March 23, 2025
The shear web laterally connects and provides significant additional strength to the outer skin of the wingsail.
SailGP said ticket holders would be refunded in full in the coming days and rescheduling the event, which was set to take place on May 3 and 4, was under consideration.
The competition will next head to New York for a weekend of racing on June 7 and 8.
In the immediate aftermath of Australia's wingsail collapse, Slingsby said saving the boat was a 'big salvage operation'.
'When something like that happens, all you think about is hoping everyone is going to get through this. Fortunately, we're all safe. That's the first priority,' he said.
The 12 national SailGP teams compete head-to-head in identical F50 catamarans. Propelling F50s above the water at high speed is potentially dangerous — when 'foiling' above the surface of the ocean the F50s are capable of speeds over 60mph (100 kilometers an hour) — which is why the sailors wear body armor and crash helmets and are permanently tethered to a retaining line on the boat to prevent them from falling overboard.
To adapt to various weather conditions, the F50s are equipped with three different wing sizes — 18m (59ft), 24m, and 29m. The size of wing is decided by the race organizers and all teams must use the same ones.
By Andrew Rice
The key phrase in Russell Coutts' comments over the cancelation is 'the safety of our athletes is our key priority'. When you look at the split-second collapse of Australia's wingsail at the event in San Francisco, you can understand why the usually unflappable driver, Tom Slingsby, looked like he'd seen a ghost.
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As lumps and shards of carbon fiber bulleted past him and the rest of the crew, Slingsby must have marvelled that everyone had avoided injury. And he must have been left wondering how much worse it could have been.
The long gap between San Francisco and Rio has afforded the technicians the opportunity to take a proper look at all the wingsails. What was originally a routine health check has unearthed a much worse scenario.
This is one example of the growing pains of a new sports league, which is having to sprint when it's only just learnt to run.