SailGP was unfinished business for Dylan Fletcher, but this season he is back with a bang, leading the series overall as helmsman for Emirates GBR. He talks to Helen Fretter about life on the fastest circuit in sailingSailGP is about to kick off a US double-header, with back to back events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, starting in LA this weekend (March 15-16). Currently topping the leaderboard is Emirates GBR, ahead of previous series winners Australia and Spain.
\nIt was little surprise that, after his history-making performance as co-helm to Ben Ainslie on INEOS Britannia in the 37th America\u2019s Cup, the vacant helm seat on the British F50 catamaran went to Dylan Fletcher for the 2025 SailGP season.
\nFletcher was originally the very first British SailGP helmsman (or \u2018driver\u2019, in SailGP parlance) having taken the wheel in the inaugural 2019 season. He was soon replaced by Ainslie, with a new team branded under INEOS sponsorship, and Fletcher didn\u2019t return to the circuit as a sailor \u2013 though after last October\u2019s Cup he told Yachting World that SailGP represented \u2018unfinished business\u2019.
\nAfter Ainslie retired from F50 sailing, and Giles Scott moved to the Canadian team, it was announced that Fletcher would helm, with Hannah Mills as strategist.
\nFletcher and the British team hit the season running, taking podium finishes at the first two events in Dubai and an extremely windy Auckland, before winning a nailbiting final at Sydney. We sat down with Dylan ahead of the US events to get his thoughts on the SailGP season so far. Read on for the full interview:
\nWinners in Australia. Photo: Jason Ludlow for SailGP
\nSo, how did you jump straight to the front of the fleet?
\n\u201cI guess I still have Season One under my belt \u2013 although when you look back at Season One, it was so bad in terms of how we were sailing the boats, and it\u2019s progressed so much. But everyone [else] in our team was consistent. It was just me stepping in and I\u2019ve worked with a lot of them before.
\n\u201cMe and Han, we\u2019ve known each other forever. Her coach was my mentor [Joe Glanfield], so there\u2019s so many similarities with how we talk.
\n\u201cI was super-happy with the start of the season, but certainly none of us were expecting it. We also know that we will have our tough moments, but we\u2019ve been, I guess, pleasantly surprised that in light winds, then windy, then medium, we seem to be up there in all three conditions, which is nice. AND we have plenty of mistakes that we\u2019re making, especially myself, so it feels nice that there\u2019s still some headroom.\u201d
\nHow much have the boats changed since that first season?
\n\u201cThe wings are new. There\u2019s obviously three different sizes now, but the whole wing itself is new. So in Season One, we were basically using wings from the America\u2019s Cup that were all different. So there were some performance differences in reality, whereas now they are all the same.
\n\u201cThe [wing] twist is much faster, so you can basically sail the boats better. It was quite hard for the two grinders in season one because the twist was really slow, so you\u2019d struggle to \u2018catch\u2019. So you\u2019d have to sail the boat quite differently.
\nArticle continues below\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDylan Fletcher-Scott Britain\u2019s 2024 America\u2019s Cup skipper<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDylan Fletcher-Scott is no stranger to high-stakes sailing. But even this Olympic gold medalist will be feeling the pressure as\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPaul Goodison on how to drive a foiling F50\u00a0in SailGP<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPaul Goodison is one of the most talented foiling sailors around \u2013 he\u2019s a three-time International Moth World Champion and\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing \u2013 outside of T-foils \u2013 has been lots under the hood. So the systems have massively stepped up. The way the accumulator and oil and pump and valves and all the technical sides have all improved massively, which you don\u2019t see, but effectively allows us to sail the boat better and more accurately.
\n\u201cAs soon as I got on [a new generation F50], you can feel the difference. But in reality, I guess they\u2019re all relatively minor changes compared to the T-foils. They really have \u2013 not exactly thrown a spanner in the works, but they are a big learning curve for everyone now.
\n\u201cIt changes [how you sail the boat] quite a lot. There\u2019s some oil management we have to do. Because you\u2019ve got the same amount of pumps and everything on the boat, but you are using more oil. You can move the cant in and out in the same way you could on an AC40 . So that certainly changes things.
\n\u201cAnd the T-foil can pierce the waves occasionally. If you are below a certain boat speed and you pierce the waves, you crash. With the previous foils if you got a little bit too high, you just generally would slide sideways and then come back down. Whereas with these foils you crash. I think you see the helms flying the boats a little bit lower when the pilots are crossing. Just being more conservative, a bit more worried about not crashing \u2013 well, certainly I do.
\n\u201cAnd because of the cant, we get more righting moment. As you cant out, you lower the bow effectively for the same rudder average. Generally speaking, all the teams are running more bow-down pitch than we were previously.\u201d
\nRacing at SailGP Sydney. Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
\nDo you think the rankings \u2013 who\u2019s got the hang of the T-foils and who hasn\u2019t \u2013 will be changing a lot over the next events?
\n\u201cI think it feels like it\u2019s stabilised slightly. We\u2019ve seen in the data that teams were not all sailing the boats the same. It was quite wild at the start in New Zealand when we did our training, and now there\u2019s a reasonable amount of similarities.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s also some different styles \u2013 like you see the Aussies obviously started incredibly well and sailed really well in all the qualifying races. But the flip side is you don\u2019t need to win every race. You just need to win the last one.\u201d
\nAt events like Auckland \u2013 decent breeze, crazy small race tracks \u2013 how strategic are you being compared to just getting around the course?
\n\u201cYeah, really strategic. It\u2019s almost slightly less reliance on the computer systems and that sort of thing because [everything] is changing so fast that you do have to just go off your gut effectively.
\n\u201cBut it is incredibly tight. We haven\u2019t actually sailed with 12 boats yet, but it\u2019s felt incredibly tight with 11, and there have been some moments that were scary, but in reality, so far, it\u2019s been good and clean.
\n\u201cThe racing is, for me, incredible. I\u2019ve really missed that tight fleet racing. Where you\u2019re racing against Pete [Burling] and Diego [Botin], who I obviously raced very closely with [in the 49er]. But then also people like Ruggero Tita, who went to the Olympics in 2016 [sailing the Nacra]. For them all to be together, it\u2019s really, really good fun.
\nHannah Mills. Photo: C. Gregory \/ INEOS Britannia
\nAnd how do you run it with Hannah in terms of strategy calls? Presumably, you just have to be incredibly fast in terms of communicating?
\n\u201cYeah, I think what\u2019s amazing with Hannah is we\u2019ve got a lot of trust straight away with each other. There were some moments in Sydney, for example, when it was really hectic. And I was just trying to focus on managing the lane ahead, but I had an idea of what I wanted to do. It\u2019s too hard to go and explain what I want. But I know I can just say to Hannah, \u2018What do you think?\u2019
\n\u201cThe other thing is because of her experience, in the final, we gybed, did a gybe turn-up, and I didn\u2019t get to the other side. So she\u2019s helming the boat in the round up, and I\u2019ve got complete confidence that she can deal with that side. So, there\u2019s a lot of trust with our roles and she can do a really good job.\u201d
\nAnd when it comes to traffic management, how do you handle that? Because there are boats coming from every direction at some points.
\n\u201cWell, we\u2019ve got the coaching booth who are looking at \u2018issue boats\u2019, as we call them, on the 2D map. We got Ben Cornish and Rob Wilson. Ben Cornish is making sure that if there\u2019s a port-starboard and they haven\u2019t heard anything [from the boat], they might [tell us]: \u2018There is an issue boat on port.\u2019
\n\u201cIt\u2019s Hannah\u2019s responsibility to look, but then also the booth is a backup. Obviously, we don\u2019t want to have a crash. So Han will say, \u2018We\u2019ve got an issue with this boat. Might be crossing. What do you think?\u2019 Then, like any normal boat, I make the final call on a duck or a cross, basically.\u201d
\nPhoto: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
\nAre those close calls as close as it looks?
\n\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly close. The racing in Sydney, especially on the first day, where the first beat was very changeable with the shifts \u2013 then you\u2019re coming into a boundary, you\u2019re going to come out on port, and it\u2019s like, \u2018are we going to be in the zone of protection?\u2019 It\u2019s ever-changing very quickly.
\n\u201cI think for me, that day in Sydney really highlighted how intense the season is going to be. Every day we get off the water and we are just like, \u2018Wow, that was wild\u2019.\u201d
\nThe penalty system really pushes avoiding collisions, doesn\u2019t it?
\n\u201cYeah. So if the boats come together, then there\u2019s penalty points. And if they believe that even the right of way boat could have done more to have kept clear, then you get penalty points, and they are severe.\u201d
\nSo keeping out of trouble becomes a huge part of the strategy?
\n\u201cYeah. In the last two races in the fleet racing, we\u2019d almost guaranteed our spot for the final. We were 15, 16 points ahead of 4th. We were thinking, \u2018Okay, just two solid races\u2019. Just stay out of trouble because if you go and get a penalty point, then you\u2019re not only out of the final, but then you\u2019ve got the season penalty points. We see now the Germans with negative season points and the Americans and the Brazilians on nothing \u2013 going into the fourth event of the season. It\u2019s unbelievable, right?
\n\u201cAnd that this is something we\u2019re discussing as a team \u2013 it\u2019s a long season. It\u2019s about managing risk, and the finals are going to be up and down. But if we can just try and keep plugging away and be in the final or thereabouts, then that\u2019s where we need to be at the end of the season.\u201d
\nA close finish at SailGP New Zealand. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP
\nGoing back to the coaching booth \u2013 is their primary role collision avoidance? Can they communicate much else to you?
\n\u201cSo they can communicate with us whenever they want. Some teams run it differently, so their booth might be a bit more of a strategist effectively, maybe depending on their experience.
\n\u201cFor us, we\u2019ve got Rob who is obviously really experienced at coaching in SailGP. Then Ben and I actually did all of the two boating in AC40s together, so we\u2019ve got a really great relationship. Their role is really to help us with the bias on the course or the gate bias, which changes quite a lot. I guess they\u2019re almost a backup for anything that we\u2019ve missed. They might turn around and tell us: \u2018You must have left turn!\u2019 Although they\u2019ve never said that yet!
\n\u201cOr there was an incident in Sydney where the software wasn\u2019t working properly, and we didn\u2019t have any laylines or anything, and they would be backing us up. So Hannah would go to leeward and have a little look, and we\u2019d go back to [doing it the] old fashioned way \u2013 which is fine, but not knowing where the boundary was was quite concerning!\u201d
\n\u201cIn between the races is where we really use it a lot. I guess it\u2019s similar to the race engineers you\u2019d have in Formula One. Ultimately, because it\u2019s so fast-paced, it\u2019s hard for them to actually have space to talk to us. They really struggle to get the time.\u201d
\nPhoto: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
\nDo you get information overload at some point? Where you just need to look at where you\u2019re going?
\n\u201cThere are times like that. But I think we\u2019re quite good as a team at trying to not talk too much. The team have done a really good job of integrating me because obviously there\u2019s things that I\u2019m not as good at or learning, and they\u2019ve given me the space rather than going \u2018Do this, do that\u2019. Because then I\u2019m just listening to them and I\u2019m not doing what I\u2019m actually quite good at. And so we don\u2019t do anything well. They\u2019ve allowed me the space to do what I do well and I will learn from my mistakes.\u201d
\nWas it quite hard to adapt to sailing with another voice in your ear from the coaching booth?
\n\u201cNot really! It\u2019s quite interesting. It\u2019s just another piece of information. You get used to it. But then with this [high performance] world, it slowly just builds up more and more and more, so you become more accustomed to it. But the flip side is I was out sailing my Moth last week and absolutely loved being on my own.\u201d
\nNobody to talk to!
\n\u201cNo, but I do occasionally talk to myself before the start of a race to go through my checklist. Otherwise, I sometimes forget things!\u201d
\nLooking ahead to the US events, what are you expecting?
\n\u201cI\u2019m always hopeful of San Fran. That\u2019s going to be good. And I\u2019m really excited to be going to race in LA. I think a different venue, flatter water, then followed by San Francisco, where we\u2019ll have maybe slightly longer courses, more open racetrack where we can see some longer runs, it will be interesting to see where teams are with the T-foils.\u201d
\nThe Rolex Los Angeles SailGP takes place from March 15-16, followed by the Oracle San Francisco SailGP from March 22-23. Visit SailGP.com
\nTickets for the UK event, the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix Portsmouth, are on sale now, with early bird pricing available until Monday, March 17. See sailgp.com\/tickets<\/p>\n
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SailGP was unfinished business for Dylan Fletcher, but this season he is back with a bang, leading the series overall as helmsman for Emirates GBR. He talks to Helen Fretter about life on the fastest circuit in sailingSailGP is about … <\/p>\n