Photos: Spain SailGP wins Oracle San Francisco SailGP Final

A sold-out crowd watched from shore as Spain SailGP team defeated Canada and France to win the Rolex SailGP Championship in San Francisco on Sunday.

The final followed the seventh fleet race, in which Australia suffered a sudden wing collapse as it approached the start line. SailGP confirmed that all athletes were accounted for and unharmed, but the cause of the incident isn’t yet known.

France made the final due to the damage onboard Australia’s F50 catamaran, which ruled them out in taking part in the final three-boat race.

Australia driver Tom Slingsby described the incident as “heartbreaking.” He stressed that the team’s priority was ensuring the boat was repaired in time to race in Rio de Janeiro in May.

“It was a very scary situation – we’re all unharmed and ok, but when something like this happens, you just think is everyone going to get through this,” Slingsby said in a SailGP press release.

Slingsby’s team has won three of SailGP’s four visits to San Francisco and was unbeaten here until Spain clinched the Season 4 championship title last season.

The annual global championship takes place in iconic cities around the world, with 11 of the 12 national teams competing in 50-foot foiling catamarans which race at speeds over 60 miles per hour. The Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix is the second race in back-to-back event weekends to kick off the U.S. slate of events for 2025.

Boats from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Emirates Great Britain, France, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA will compete.

To achieve these top speeds, the F50’s hydrofoils lift the boat out of the water to reduce drag, and use a vertically-mounted airplane wing as a sail. Each boat has a crew of five members, consisting of a helmsman, wing-trimmer, flight controller and two grinders.