Los Gallos win it at the wire as Halifax serves up its first four-boat final

Race Day 2 in Halifax brought sunshine and a building breeze, a welcome turnaround after Saturday’s racing had been cut short by a dying wind that limited the fleet to four scrappy races. The split-fleet format continued into Race Day 2. Group A had got the action underway on day one, so it was Group B’s turn to lead off, and the breeze filled in quickly enough that boats were soon up on their foils.

Overnight scores had Group A led by BONDS Flying Roos on 10 points, while in Group B, Artemis led on 9 points. The U.S. SailGP Team sat near the bottom of the table on 1.

With the finals looming and places still up in the air, today’s racing was going to bring out the strategic and tactical racing, and it did.

Day 2, Race 4

Emirates GBR was the notable absentee from Group B, sidelined after damaging their wing in earlier training and leaving a five-boat field.

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Group B: Artemis go back to back

U.S. SailGP Team matched Artemis off the start line and stayed with them to Mark 1, but Artemis took control from there, the gap behind them opening and closing as the race developed.

By Gate 4 it had pulled out to just four seconds, the kind of margin that still has the chasing pack thinking about a pass.

It was what happened behind that gap, though, that made the race. Second place swapped repeatedly between U.S. SailGP Team and Germany by Deutsche Bank through the closing legs, with Explora Journeys Swiss and Red Bull Italy locked in their own tussle for fourth right behind them. While that battle raged, Artemis quietly stretched clear at the front, turning a four-second buffer into a 13-second winning margin by the finish.

U.S. SailGP Team eventually held on for second, with Germany by Deutsche Bank, Explora Journeys Swiss and Red Bull Italy crossing close together for the minor placings. A composed, drama-free win for Artemis, their second in a row, built on a race that tightened before it stretched out again.

Group B Standings

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SailGP — Fleet Racing

Pos	Team	Driver	Points
1	Artemis	Nathan Outteridge	5 PTS
2	U.S. SailGP Team (USA)	Taylor Canfield	4 PTS
3	Germany by Deutsche Bank (GER)	Erik Heil	3 PTS
4	Explora Journeys Swiss (SUI)	Sebastien Schneiter	2 PTS
5	Red Bull Italy (ITA)	Phil Robertson	1 PTS
6	Emirates GBR	Dylan Fletcher	0 PTS

Group A: Los Gallos charge through

Seven boats lined up: DS Automobiles FRA, Los Gallos, Black Foils, NorthStar, Mubadala Brazil, ROCKWOOL Racing and BONDS Flying Roos.

Los Gallos took the bigger risk at the start, charging in from the back of a seven-boat fleet to steal the front of the line, and the gap they opened there only grew. By Gate 3 they led NorthStar by eight seconds; by Gate 4 it was ten; by the finish, eighteen. A race that began with Los Gallos clawing their way forward from nowhere ended with them pulling steadily further away from everyone else.

The more interesting story was further back. Black Foils had been right with the leaders at Mark 1, in the mid-70s km/h, only to come off their foils at Gate 2 and lose several places in an instant, it may have cost them the final. Instead, they spent the rest of it clawing back into contention, and the closing stages turned into exactly the tight, jostling fight for the minor placings that their early stumble threatened to rule them out of.

NorthStar held second throughout, but BONDS Flying Roos and Black Foils closed in relentlessly, the three of them crossing the line within seconds of each other, still elbowing for position. DS Automobiles FRA and ROCKWOOL Racing, by contrast, were never in that fight, falling away early and staying there. Mubadala Brazil’s race ended prematurely, coming off their foils near the grandstand.

Diego Botin on the start: “High risk for us, but we pulled it off.”

The win lifted Los Gallos level on points at the top of Group A with BONDS Flying Roos on 11, Black Foils recovering to third on 9 despite their Gate 2 setback, with Los Gallos posting 100 per cent foiling time for the race.

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Day 2, Race 5

Group B: the playoff for the final

With Artemis already through to the final on 14 points, the second Group B spot came down to a straight fight between Explora Journeys Swiss on 10 points and Germany by Deutsche Bank on 8, the Germans needing close to a win to leapfrog through. As it turned out, that fight was decided early and quietly, while the loudest battle of the race happened further down the leadership board.

Germany’s hopes effectively ended at Gate 3, where they spun out and immediately handed away any margin they had left to find. From there their gap to the leaders only widened, and the qualifying equation simplified itself: Explora Journeys Swiss just had to finish ahead of them, which they always looked likely to do.

The real contest was for the win, and it kept changing hands. Explora Journeys Swiss led at Mark 1 and held it to Gate 2, but then sailed extra distance hunting for breeze out wide, a gamble that cost them the lead. U.S. SailGP Team seized the opening, and by Gate 4 had turned a tight battle into a three-second lead they never gave back, eventually winning by 19. Red Bull Italy had their own story late, squeezing Germany hard at the finish line to force the error that confirmed third over fourth. Explora Journeys Swiss did enough, second on the day, to take the final berth alongside Artemis, while U.S. SailGP Team’s win, built on capitalising on someone else’s mistake then taking advantage of the growing gap, was the clearest sign yet of the turnaround in their form, posting 100 per cent foiling time after a difficult opening day.

Taylor Canfield: “Good day for us, bummer of a day for us yesterday. We went to the drawing board last night and made some adjustments and changes. That showed up today on the race track. Tricky race track, we had a good grip on it. The whole team performed really well, operating through the big wings and foils. Managing the power is tricky but overall we did a good job, front to back.”

Group A: down to the wire

BONDS Flying Roos needed only a fourth-place finish or better to confirm their final spot, leaving the real battle for the second berth between Los Gallos on 11 points and Black Foils on 9, with NorthStar too far back to have a realistic shot.

The start was tight, NorthStar first over the line with BONDS Flying Roos, ROCKWOOL Racing and Los Gallos within milliseconds of each other and Black Foils and DS Automobiles FRA further back, not the clean start Black Foils needed. NorthStar picked up an early penalty.

BONDS Flying Roos led at Mark 1 from Black Foils and DS Automobiles FRA, but the order shuffled repeatedly through the middle legs as Black Foils and Los Gallos traded places in what became an arm wrestle for the second final spot. Black Foils lost ground in traffic behind ROCKWOOL Racing and Los Gallos, who were blocking their wind, and by Gate 4 it was BONDS Flying Roos clear in front, with NorthStar, Black Foils, Los Gallos and ROCKWOOL Racing tightly bunched behind.

With ROCKWOOL Racing holding the key, the maths became simple: if Los Gallos could finish ahead of ROCKWOOL Racing, they would take the final spot over Black Foils. Black Foils needed ROCKWOOL Racing to finish between themselves and Los Gallos to get through instead.

It turned into outright match racing in the closing stages. Unable to manufacture the gap they needed, Black Foils slowed to match-race Los Gallos in the hope of letting ROCKWOOL Racing catch up and slot between the two of them. BONDS Flying Roos took the win, NorthStar second 14 seconds back, but the real drama was for third. Black Foils and Los Gallos crossed the line together at 37 seconds back, with ROCKWOOL Racing just half a metre behind them in fourth at 38 seconds, agonisingly close but not close enough to split the two rivals apart.

On the result, Los Gallos went through to the final on 13 points, BONDS Flying Roos joining them on 18. Black Foils missed out on 12 points, NorthStar were never in contention on 9. ROCKWOOL Racing posted 99.9 per cent foiling time in the race.

Diego Botin on the closing manoeuvre: “They needed to put a boat between them and us. Made it clear they were going to slow us down.”

The Final: Los Gallos break through

Athletes of the day were named ahead of the race: Diego Botin (driver, Los Gallos), Andrew Campbell (strategist, U.S. SailGP Team), Chris Dapper (wing trimmer, Artemis) and Andy Maloney (flight controller, Artemis).

For the first time in SailGP history, the final was contested by four boats, BONDS Flying Roos, Artemis, Los Gallos and Explora Journeys Swiss, in conditions that kept shifting through the race. It was Artemis’s first ever final.

Artemis started the race already behind. Forced to bear away just before the gun, they were last over the line by a fraction, and that small deficit was the story of the whole race, a gap they spent seven legs trying to close. By Mark 1 Los Gallos had taken control at the front, and through the middle of the course it was Los Gallos and Explora Journeys Swiss who traded the lead in fractions of a second, with Artemis working steadily back through the fleet behind them. By Gate 3 Los Gallos had cleared away to lead the chasing trio. By Gate 5, Artemis had clawed all the way back to within a single second of the lead, the closest the gap came all race.

It still wasn’t enough. Artemis dove for the outside on the run to the finish looking for the passing lane that would have completed the comeback, but Los Gallos defended the position and held on to cross the line first, claiming their maiden win of the season on a day they’d started by clawing back from the rear of the fleet in Race 4 and finished by holding off a fast-closing final charge.

The result also brought an end to BONDS Flying Roos’s run of three consecutive event wins.

Halifax’s biggest story was the turnaround from U.S. SailGP Team, who battled back from a difficult opening day to finish fifth, capped by a statement win in Group B’s deciding race. Black Foils’ return to racing was the other major storyline: a clean event with the boat intact, building speed and form as the regatta progressed, though clearly with more to find. Their comeback added real tension to the day, setting up the closest finish of the event in Group A’s final fleet race, a virtual dead heat that came down to fractions of a second.

The fleet now heads to Portsmouth for the next event.

2026 season leaderboard

By points scored at Halifax: Los Gallos (+10) and Artemis (+9) had the best events outright. By table movement, Los Gallos jumped two places (4th to 2nd) and NorthStar moved up two (10th to 8th) despite a modest points haul, just from others around them stalling.

Emirates GBR scored zero and slipped from 2nd to 3rd, the most costly non-result of the event for anyone near the top. ROCKWOOL Racing also blanked and dropped out of the top eight. Mubadala Brazil’s penalty cost them what would have been a useful points day and left them static while others around them moved.

The gap at the very top widened: BONDS Flying Roos led Emirates GBR by 11 points before Halifax, now lead the chasing pack (Los Gallos and Emirates GBR, tied) by 18 points. The biggest compression happened at the back, where Black Foils went from last by some distance (3 points, 7 behind 12th) to tied on points with Mubadala Brazil for 12th.

Realistically, though, the teams actually putting pressure on BONDS Flying Roos are the ones with the form to back it up: Los Gallos, fresh off a Halifax win, and Artemis, who pushed Los Gallos to within a second in the final and have now had two strong events in a row. U.S. SailGP Team’s turnaround is real but they’re still 21 points off the lead. Everyone from Germany by Deutsche Bank down is more of a long shot unless any single team can pull consecutive events out of the bag, needing BONDS Flying Roos to have a genuinely bad run as well.