The America's Cup sprint is officially on. Team New Zealand have rolled their AC75 out of the shed in Auckland, and for the first time in the Cup's 175-year history, there won't be a single human powering the sails.

In episode 10 of The Foil podcast, Andy Rice, Freddie Carr and Neil Cole unpack what the shift from cyclors to batteries actually means for how these boats will be sailed. With a one-design 125kg battery pack replacing the engine room grunt of four elite athletes, the teams face an entirely new challenge: managing finite power across pre-start battles, acceleration off the line, and the constant demands of a foiling upwind-downwind course. And unlike athletes with tired legs, a battery doesn't get a second wind.

Freddie draws on his experience as a cyclor on Ineos Britannia to explain how the crew's jobs will be redistributed across the remaining five positions – and why Team New Zealand's software and hydraulic efficiency under the hood might be worth more than any individual signing this cycle. Meanwhile, the AC40's unlimited power has created habits that teams will need to unlearn fast.

With just 45 sailing days on the AC75 permitted before mid-January 2027, every hour on the water counts. ETNZ are first to splash, but with the design rulebook still wide open, there's nothing stopping their rivals from watching, learning, and designing around whatever the Kiwis discover. The conversation also touches on Paul Cayard's 45-years-in-the-making Bacardi Cup triumph and 18-foot skiff racing on Sydney Harbour.

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In this week’s episode, Freddie Carr, Andy Rice and Neil Cole break down Sydney SailGP – where the USA completed their redemption arc, Slingsby had a few frustrations, and light winds caused a weekend of upsets.

Twelve months ago, Team USA capsized on the tow boat heading to practice in Sydney Harbour. It was rock bottom for a team that couldn't catch a break. Jump forward to this weekend and Taylor Canfield is walking around the tech zone like the main character in an action movie – J/70 World Champion, M32 World Champion, and now a SailGP event winner.

But Sydney wasn't kind to everyone. Tom Slingsby watched Australia's final hopes disintegrate in Fleet Race 7 when a 30-degree left shift turned what was supposed to be a decisive race into what Freddie Carr calls 'the worst SailGP race I've ever seen.' After missing a Sydney final for the first time ever, the Aussie skipper didn't hold back in the mixed zone, calling out race management for moving the start marks inside the final minute – something he says he's never experienced in over 50 SailGP events.

The team also dig into Auckland's uncertain future, with The Ocean Race potentially holding veto power over the venue slot. Russell Coutts is keen to make both events work together – picture IMOCAs and F50s sharing Auckland Harbour in the same weekend – but nothing’s confirmed.

The format discussion comes up too. Reaching starts, windward starts, stadium racing versus harbour tours. When you're locked into a 90-minute broadcast window and the wind doesn't cooperate, you end up with what we saw in Race 7. But does SailGP have enough flexibility to adapt?

Then there's the propulsion debate that almost ended Freddie and Andy's friendship. Electric motors on sailing boats? One of them thinks it's the future. The other thinks it's powerboat racing.

🔗 Read the Sydney review: https://thefoil.com/news/low-breeze-sydney-still-a-welcome-distraction-from-reality/

🔗 Watch the weekend recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O43YibDBzxQ

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Sydney SailGP is almost here, but the Auckland collision casts a long shadow.

In this week's episode, the team digs into one of the most consequential weekends in SailGP's seven-year history. France skipper Quentin Delapierre joins to fill us in about what happened in Auckland and what comes next. Manon Audinet spent over a week in hospital, and the French team has brought in a psychologist to support their athletes.

Quentin’s message is clear: injuries will happen in extreme sport. The question is how the league responds. Split fleets? Halos? Stronger pods? He believes the answers will come through collaboration – and he won’t be walking away. "I will not quit the league," he says. "I'm fully into it, and I'm focused to win this championship one day. But some of the athletes have concerns, and that’s normal."

The podcast also previews Sydney's twilight racing, where shifty harbour breeze and the tactical puzzle of Shark Island await. With France and New Zealand sidelined, the championship door is open for teams who can seize the moment. Australia and Great Britain are the boats to beat on equal points at the top of the season leaderboard. But lighter winds could create opportunities nobody saw coming.

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Neil Cole is joined by Andy Rice and Freddie Carr, who were both on the spot in Auckland and witnessed the devastating collision between New Zealand’s Black Foils and DS Team France that left two sailors with serious injuries last weekend. Our trio review all the events, from the cause to the effect that led to SailGP splitting the fleet for the final day of racing. But should the organisers have acted sooner? And does this mean a split-fleet future is the right way to go for SailGP?

Andy and Freddie disagree on a “line in the sand” regulation change, but converge on other issues including how the final between SailGP’s three champion teams – Australia’s Flying Roos, Emirates GBR and Spain’s Los Gallos crew – offered an upbeat sporting contest to complete what had been a difficult weekend.

What do you think about SailGP right now? To ask the team a question for episode eight next week, ahead of the next round in Sydney, drop a comment below.

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“These will be ‘hot laps’ with 12 other world-class teams,” says Freddie Carr as The Foil sets the scene for round two of the 2026 SailGP championship in Auckland, New Zealand this weekend.

As Andy Rice tells us, there’s a “pretty heinous forecast for the weekend – a south-south westerly” to greet the crews and keep a bumper crowd on the edge of their grandstand seats. “When you ask those who raced in 2025 which is the toughest,” points out Freddie, “to a man, and to a woman, they say Auckland.” Joined by presenter Neil Cole, Andy and Freddie speculate on whether SailGP will be forced to split the 13-boat fleet this weekend at a “tiny” venue. Andy tips the Black Foils on home territory and Spain’s Los Gallos crew to hit back after their troubles at round one in Perth, while Freddie reckons Sweden’s Team Artemis have gained a head-start via some foiling on AC40s in the region. Whoever prevails, The Foil will be there to witness it and report back.

Along with SailGP, Freddie and Andy also wrap up sailing action from all over the world this past week. Freddie reports back from his own racing activities on M32s in Miami; there was some “brilliant racing” from the RC44s in Lanzarote; the Wingfoil World Cup crowned its first champions of the year in Hong Kong; and the team also touches on a new legal spat that’s cast an unwanted new shadow over the America’s Cup.

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Last week, The Famous Project crew made history – and Dee Caffari sees it as just the beginning. Freddie Carr sits down with Dee to unpack how eight women became the first all-female crew to complete a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe on a multihull – a 57-day voyage that rewrote the record books despite everything the ocean threw at them.

In this exclusive interview, Caffari reveals the stat that stopped her in her tracks: before this voyage, only three women had ever rounded Cape Horn on a multihull. The Famous Project made that number eleven. She explains why the team's legacy matters more than the time on the clock, how co-skipper Alexia Barrier assembled an international crew of seven nationalities, and what it took to keep pushing through catastrophic gear failures that would have broken lesser teams.

Also in this episode: Andy Rice reports from New Zealand ahead of Auckland SailGP, with updates on the Black Foils' recovery from Perth, the coaching musical chairs at the Kiwi SailGP team, Iain Jensen joining Emirates Team New Zealand, and the latest on whether Season 6 will feature split fleets or 13 boats on one chaotic start line.

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Offshore at inshore intensity – that's the new reality of ocean racing, and the crew of Jason Carroll's Mod 70 Argo just proved it by smashing the transatlantic record in a near-constant match race with Zulu across 2,800 miles of Atlantic.

In this offshore special, Freddie Carr and Neil Cole sit down with crew Pete Cumming to dissect a record attempt that came down to single-digit minutes. Four days, 23 hours, 51 minutes, 15 seconds – sub-five by a margin so slim the crew didn't know they'd made it until the final approach. Behind them, Zulu finished just two hours back. This was a five-day knife fight at 30-plus knots.

But this episode isn't just about the numbers. It's about what happens inside your head when you're driving at 34 knots with no moon, no horizon, and six teammates asleep below who are trusting you with their lives. It's about the boat having 'a voice' – and knowing something's wrong when the hull goes silent because you've left the water entirely. The Mod 70, Pete says, is the most unforgiving boat in sailing: one mistake and you're over.

Plus: a first look at Freddie's interview with Benjamin Schwartz, co-skipper and navigator aboard Sodebo, the Ultim 3 that just smashed the Jules Verne around-the-world record in 40 days.

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Neil Cole, Freddie Carr and Andy Rice reflect on the main talking points thrown up by the SailGP season opener in Perth – which all agree was the “best event yet”. The team discuss the benefits of racing at an “extreme venue”, while acknowledging pre-event injuries to Chris Draper and Iain ‘Goobs’ Jensen highlight how “hairy” this sport can be. There’s praise for “the wave whisperer” Luke Parkinson, Emirates GBR trimmer and The Foil’s sailor of the weekend, and verdicts on Spain’s mechanically-induced non-start and the controversial collision between New Zealand’s Black Foils and the Swiss crew.

Beyond SailGP, The Foil doffs its collective cap to Ian Williams for winning his ninth Match Racing World Championship since 2007. The team also discusses the amazing RORC transatlantic record-breaking feats of Argo and Raven in the past week.

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What can we expect in SailGP Season 6? The championship that crowned eight different winners in 12 events last season is already back – and this time, there are 13 teams fighting for the $2 million prize in Abu Dhabi.

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Eight different event winners. Twelve teams separated by margins that would have been unthinkable two seasons ago. The SailGP fleet is levelling up, and the stats are there to prove it.

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