Latest news with #OraclePerthSailGrandPrix
Perth Now
19-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Bathers Beach to host launch of sailing championship
A sailing team co-owned by Hollywood stars Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds will be among competitors turning the waters off Fremantle into a grand prix for boats next year. More than 15,000 fans are expected at Bathers Beach when it hosts the inaugural Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix presented by KPMG, from January 17 to 18. The grand prix will launch the 2026 season of the Rolex SailGP Championship, a global calendar of high-speed, close-to-shore events in which national teams compete on identical cutting-edge foiling catamarans. Competitors will include Australia's Bonds Flying Roos SailGP team, which is co-owned by Jackman and Reynolds. Bonds Flying Roos grinder Kinley Fowler said there was nothing like racing at home. 'Fremantle has some of the best sailing conditions in the world and getting the chance to race in front of family, friends and our local sailing community on Bathers Beach will be unforgettable,' he said. 'The energy here is unreal and fans are going to be blown away by how close the racing gets to the grandstand. 'We've always wanted to bring SailGP to the west coast and now we get to show the world what Perth's coastline is made of.' Coach Ben Durham said Fremantle was an iconic sailing venue and the event would put it and local talent on the map. The event is supported by the State Government through Tourism WA. Acting Tourism Minister Don Punch said the Perth Sail Grand Prix would be a fantastic spectacle. 'Being able to watch 50-foot catamarans sail past at speeds of over 100km/h from a grandstand just metres from the action, a pumping beach club, or from the water itself is certainly not an opportunity to be missed,' he said. '(It) will bring thousands of visitors to our State and generate millions of dollars in visitor spend, boosting our bars and restaurants, hotels and local businesses.' There will be a range of spectator experiences available, including a waterfront grandstand with live commentary, big-screen viewing, family-friendly activities and post-race entertainment on Bathers Beach. A map of the event. Credit: Supplied Spectators can also BYOB — Bring Your Own Boat — with an on-water front-row position to the high-speed action directly from their own boat inside the exclusion zone. SailGP managing director Andrew Thompson said bringing SailGP to Perth was a major milestone and perfect launch for the 2026 season. 'The new purpose-built Waterfront Grandstand, alongside the Beach Club, marks a significant step in elevating the fan experience and expanding our presence in one of our most passionate markets,' he said. For ticket and event details, visit Pre-sale starts on Friday, August 22, and general public tickets will be available from Thursday, August 28.
News.com.au
17-07-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Perth lands ‘unique' SailGP event, mounts challenge to Australia's sporting capital
Perth is continuing to mount a case as one of the sporting capitals of Australia after landing a new event to be held on the pristine waters off the Western Australian coast. Australia will have the rare honour of hosting multiple SailGP events after the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix was added to the 2026 calendar of the global sailing league likened to Formula One on water. Season six of SailGP will kick off in Perth on January 17-18 next year, with Australian fans getting to watch the F50s in action from waterfront grandstands for the first time at Fremantle's Bathers Beach. The Sydney event has been a fixture on the calendar since SailGP's inception, but the unique nature of that course means spectators are dotted around the harbour on boats and vantage points like Shark Island. There is nothing quite like watching the high-tech, colourful boats that can reach speeds of 100km/h, fly past the shoreline in front of fans sitting on the edge of the water in grandstands. Kinley Fowler, a member of Australia's champion BONDS Flying Roos team, grew up in Perth and can't wait to sail at home with the Fremantle doctor in the natural amphitheatre of Bathers Beach. 'It's been really exciting,' Fowler told 'I got wind of the possibility of an event coming to Perth a couple of months ago and ever since joining SailGP at the very beginning in 2018-19, it has been a massive dream of mine to have an event come to Perth in home waters and now it's happening. I'm super excited.' 'We'll be racing in the Freo Doctor and good breeze, which is every sailor's dream, but we'll also be coming within metres of all the grandstands there and in front of friends and family. 'Something unique with this venue at Bathers Beach is we're going to have grandstands on either side of the course. It really is going to feel like a stadium for us out on the water. 'It feels like the sport is growing massively and to kick off the season in Perth with big grandstands, it's going to be real stadium racing in good breeze.' Australia's SailGP team, which won the first three seasons of the league, recently rebranded as the BONDS Flying Roos as part of a new multimillion dollar deal that saw actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds join the team as co-owners. 'To have an iconic Australia brand like BONDS is super exciting … it makes complete sense,' said Fowler. 'And to have Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds speaks volumes to how much this league is growing. 'We're really excited to see their vision because they're creative guys and we know that they're dreaming up something big for our team. It's going to be exciting to see where they take it.' Australia sits second on the season five leaderboard, one point behind reigning champions Spain after six events. 'This season is definitely a lot more challenging,' Fowler said. 'Every year in SailGP it gets more competitive. We're seeing a lot of this young talent come through, they're getting used to the boats and starting to gel as a team. 'It really is challenging for us and it's something that we're working on every day with our coaches and data analysts to try and get the edge because the unique thing about this league is that everyone is on identical boats and everyone has access to all of the data from every other boat. 'It's pretty hard to stay at the top but we have a really good culture in our team of not only having a good time, but making sure that we're constantly trying to push the envelope with development and trying to make the boat go faster, trying to be better at manoeuvring, starting and all of the little one-percenters that can that can maintain our lead is what we're going after now. SailGP season five continues this weekend at the Emirates Great Britain Grand Prix at Portsmouth on July this weekend, which Aussies can watch on Sunday and Mornday morning at 1am AEST. SailGP is expanding with a tender process underway for two new teams to join the league in 2026, which would grow the fleet to 14 teams. New contender for Australia's sporting capital? SailGP's expansion begs the question, does Perth have a case to be in the discussion as one of Australia's sporting capital? That crown belongs to Melbourne, which boasts the F1 Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open, AFL Grand Final, Boxing Day Test and Melbourne Cup. Brisbane has Magic Round and the pilgrimage to South Australia is becoming more popular thanks to the AFL's Gather Round and the cricket Test match at the Adelaide Oval. Perth continues to attract major sporting events — from WWE, major Socceroos and Matildas games, overseas football friendlies and State of Origin games. A major part of Perth's new-found sporting attraction is the state-of-the-art Optus Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000, which is proving to be a coup for tourism to Western Australia. UFC Fight Night is coming to Perth's RAC Arena on September 28, continuing the promotion's relationship with the WA capital after Perth hosted UFC 284 and UFC 305. 'Perth in the summertime is just an amazing place to be, particularly out on the water,' said Fowler. 'We have the Freo Doctor here, which is the sea breeze which comes in every day at over 20 knots, which is the ideal conditions for anyone who does any water sports like kitesurfing or sailing or anything like that. 'It's great to come back to Perth and see how much investment is going into bring sporting events here. We're just really happy SailGP is part of it and we get to kick off the season here.' Watch
