SailGP: Nationality Regulations Updated for Season 5 – Detailed Changes for All Teams
by Richard Gladwell & SailGP 1 Nov 18:08 PDT
2 November 2024
New Zealand SailGP Team – Race Day 2 – SailGP Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco, USA – July 14, 2024 © Riccardo Pinto / SailGP
With privately owned teams selecting talent from the established pool, it is evident that SailGP’s team regulations have evolved since Season 4.
Originally, SailGP aimed for a distinctly nationalistic format, allowing only one team per country to represent with its national flag.
However, as new privately funded national teams have entered the league, maintaining such a stance is no longer feasible, especially for newcomers trying to compete against more experienced teams. The challenge is further intensified by the limited practice time available on the League’s F50s, making it particularly tough for new teams to catch up.
To bridge the gap between teams and enhance overall competition, the nationality regulations have become more flexible, permitting experienced sailors carrying the “wrong” passport to join teams. Additionally, established teams can recruit “Top Gun” crew members who also might possess the “wrong” passport, thereby enhancing team performance.
These new rules still fall short of those that were in place during the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda, which featured the AC50 wingsailed foiling catamarans, precursors to the one-design F50. Back in 2017, only one crew member was required to possess the passport of the competing nation.
The League outlines the revised nationality regulations:
In the upcoming Season 5, twelve national teams will compete in SailGP’s most extensive calendar thus far. But what are the nationality rules within SailGP, and how have they changed for the 2025 season?
The updated nationality guidelines for this season mandate that at least three nationals must be on board in a six-person crew. This number adjusts based on the crew size.
For a five-person crew, the requirement is two nationals; for a four-person crew, it’s two nationals; and for a three-person crew, it’s one national.
These new rules apply uniformly to all SailGP teams, irrespective of their length of participation in the league.
This adjustment follows several modifications made to the rules in prior seasons. Previously, SailGP’s nationality provisions categorized teams into ‘developed’ and ‘non-developed’ sailing nations, enforcing stricter crew nationality requirements for ‘developed’ countries, while relaxing those for ‘non-developed’ nations. This framework was revised at the beginning of Season 4, aligning all countries to the same national requirement standards.
In Season 4, teams in their first and second seasons could have three non-nationals, but this was reduced to two non-nationals upon entering the third season. Teams in their fourth season were only permitted one non-national member.
The new regulations appear to have influenced the confirmed crew compositions for the upcoming season. For instance, Brazil has announced a lineup consisting of three nationals and three non-nationals.
Driver Martine Grael and grinders Marco Grael and Mateus Isaac are all Brazilian nationals, while flight controller Andy Maloney comes from New Zealand, and wing trimmer Leigh McMillan along with strategist Richard Mason are both from the United Kingdom. The latter three make up the team’s quota for non-nationals.
