Australia wins in Sassnitz, opens a 14-point lead in SailGP and watches France break the circuit's speed record

The Rockwool Germany Sail Grand Prix, sailed on 22 and 23 August in Sassnitz, on the island of Rügen, delivered two stories across two very different days. On Saturday, strong wind and a speed record nobody expected to see so soon. On Sunday, rain, unstable breeze and a final resolved almost adrift.

In the end, the BONDS Flying Roos won, and the championship tilted further.

The French record

The mark of the weekend does not belong to the team that lifted the trophy.

In the last race on Saturday, DS Automobiles Team France, of Quentin Delapierre, hit 107.63 km/h, roughly 58 knots, setting SailGP's new speed record. The previous mark of 103.93 km/h belonged to Denmark's Rockwool Racing and had been set on the same Baltic course last year.

It is no coincidence that both records came out of Sassnitz. The combination of water relatively sheltered by the island and strong, steady wind creates exactly the scenario in which the F50 can hold top speed long enough to register it.

Sunday was a different championship

The second day turned everything around. Heavy rain and irregular gusts around 40 km/h turned the course into an exercise in reading the breeze rather than in speed.

Nobody read the conditions better than the home team. Germany, presented by Deutsche Bank, won the fourth race by a margin unusual in this league, crossing around 600 metres ahead of Canada's NorthStar, and added a second win on the day.

"We had, let's say, a not very favourable start, but we saw the wind coming and we were lucky that everyone on the other side was falling completely off the foils. So we had a relatively easy race, just staying on the foils, which was a nice moment for us and for the home crowd," said German helmsman Erik Kosegarten-Heil.

In the qualifying, Group B reached the final leg with the top four teams separated by a single point. A triple crossing between Australia, Canada and Sweden reshuffled the order: NorthStar took the lead, Australia dropped to second and Artemis Racing finished fifth, losing its place in the final.

"It was a slightly frustrating day for us. We got some good positions at the front, but we ended up losing the win in the last race. We tried a pass on the upwind leg, we both went right and we lost a few places," said Swedish helmsman Nathan Outteridge.

Even out of the final, Artemis moved up onto the season podium.

A final with no wind and no foils

The decider brought together four Olympic champions on the helms, and ended up defined by the opposite of what SailGP usually sells. The wind dropped, the boats came off the foils and the finish became a drag race at walking pace.

Australia made the most of the start, rounded the first mark ahead of NorthStar and New Zealand, and built a lead on the fifth leg, when most of the fleet was already struggling to stay flying. Los Gallos, who rounded the first mark last, recovered as far as second but never reached the Australians.

Behind, Black Foils, NorthStar and Los Gallos crossed almost together, all off the foils. New Zealand took a penalty for failing to keep clear of the Spanish and dropped to fourth. NorthStar took second and Spain third.

"We definitely had to fight hard. We had a huge sense of déjà vu when the wind started to drop, because in the first race we went from first to last. But we learned a lot in that race about how to get the boat to maximum performance and find the wind quickly," said Tom Slingsby.

On the other side, New Zealand's frustration. "When your worst race of the event is the last one, it definitely hurts," summed up Peter Burling, in the team's first final of the season.

Podium and championship picture

It was Australia's fifth win of 2026, and the lead in the Rolex SailGP Championship grew to 14 points.

The weekend was poor for the reigning champions. Emirates GBR, of Dylan Fletcher, finished the event ninth and sits level on points with the United States in the season, 30 points behind Australia. Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team, of Martine Grael, closed the event in 13th.

With nine of the thirteen events completed, four remain for anyone to try to catch the Australians.

"Momentum is a powerful thing. You have highs and lows through the year, and when you go through a bad patch you wonder where it will end. We are very excited to go into three events in a row with plenty of momentum," said Slingsby.

The German event drew nearly 15,000 spectators across the two days.

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