Fletcher and Mills mastermind comeback over Australia and New Zealand to secure $2m winner-takes-all sail final
Britain captured their first SailGP championship with a hard-fought victory in the Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix Grand Final, overhauling three-time champions Australia and contenders New Zealand in a dramatic winner‑takes‑all race.
The Emirates GBR F50, helmed by driver Dylan Fletcher and guided tactically by two-time Olympic gold medallist Hannah Mills, recovered from an unpromising start to hook into a decisive gust on the downwind leg and sail clear to the finish. Britain’s victory sealed the 2025 title and the $2 million top prize, capping a season in which they were the most consistent of the 12-boat fleet.
Australia’s Flying Roos, led by Tom Slingsby, had made the best start in Sunday’s three‑boat final, with New Zealand’s Black Foils moving into the lead around halfway as the light, shifty winds turned the compact Abu Dhabi course into a game of small margins.
The pivotal moment came when both Australia and New Zealand turned left at the top gate, while Fletcher committed to the opposite right‑hand mark. That split put the British boat into stronger breeze, allowing them to foil past the shoreline and into a commanding lead that neither rival could claw back before the finish.
The Grand Final line-up was decided by cumulative points from 12 grands prix across the season, with Emirates GBR topping the overall standings thanks to podiums and event wins in venues such as Sydney, Saint-Tropez and Andalucía‑Cádiz. New Zealand, skippered by Peter Burling, qualified second overall but once again fell short in the showcase race, finishing third to extend their wait for a first SailGP crown despite appearing in three consecutive finals.
Australia, the only team to contest all five SailGP Grand Finals and champions in the first three seasons, had squeezed out Spain’s Los Gallos for the last spot in Abu Dhabi but could not convert an early lead into another title.
For Fletcher, the Abu Dhabi triumph comes in his first season as driver of the British F50, and he credited the win to calm decision‑making and the crew’s ability to stay “cool” when they were briefly last of the three in the final. Mills, whose role as strategist includes reading wind shifts and pressure lines, was instrumental in calling the race‑winning move at the top gate, emphasising afterwards that the key was to “keep the pressure on” their rivals and be ready when an opportunity opened.
Team CEO Ben Ainslie, a four‑time Olympic champion who is also fronting Britain’s 2027 America’s Cup campaign in Naples, hailed the title as proof that his squad can beat “the best sailors in the world” in high‑speed foiling boats.
Britain’s championship brings their season prize money haul to around $4.4 million, comfortably ahead of New Zealand’s total of roughly $1.76 million in a series that is rapidly professionalising grand prix sailing with unprecedented purses. While Emirates GBR celebrated with the Rolex SailGP Championship, Golden Wheel and Impact League trophies on the Abu Dhabi dock, Denmark’s team, skippered by Nicolai Sehested, could also reflect positively after winning the weekend’s fleet racing for only their second event victory and first since 2021.
Attention now turns quickly to season six, which begins in mid‑January in Perth, Australia, where the strong “Fremantle Doctor” sea breeze promises a much windier, higher‑speed challenge than the light, tactical conditions that decided Britain’s breakthrough sail title in Abu Dhabi.
