The America's Cup teams are taking shape, and this week there are some fascinating new names entering the picture.

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Episode 32 of the Foil Podcast celebrates the 200th anniversary of Cowes Week, diving deep into the rich history, vibrant present, and promising future of sailing.

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Portsmouth had everything.

00:00 Portsmouth Delivers

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The Foil takes over Musto’s flagship ’Lighthouse’ store in Portsmouth for the team's first-ever live and in-person podcast.

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Episode 29 previews SailGP Portsmouth – the eighth event of SailGP season six – from every angle. Andy Rice goes over his conversation with Ben Ainslie this week: the reset the champions are after following an Americas leg bookended by disaster, comms that aren't as tight as last year, Stu Bithell stepping into big shoes, and the questions hanging over the back end of the season.
Freddie Carr considers the crowd to be a genuine performance factor, drawn from standing on a boat in front of a packed Portsmouth grandstand himself, and reckons Emirates GBR will enjoy the pressure rather than crack under it.
Then looking at the racecourse itself – thermals off Southsea, Spitbank Fort and bollards inside the boundaries, the peculiar course shape that shuts down the slingshot start, a 300-metre first reach, an east-going tide and the bottom gate that decided last year's event final.
Plus: Lewis Smith's scoop on the group reorder, split fleets looking set to become a fixture, Martine Grael back in the driving seat, and the umpires’ talk of "anticipation".
If you’re in Portsmouth on Sunday morning then be sure to come and say hi. Get your tickets to The Foil’s first live podcast here: https://thefoil.com/news/our-first-ever-live-and-in-person-podcast-sailgp-portsmouth/
Comments are now live on thefoil.com so be sure to create your account and join the conversation under any of our articles. And follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.
READ MORE: Andy Rice talks with Craig Mitchell on the art of remote umpiring https://thefoil.com/news/why-refereeing-sailgp-is-just-getting-harder/
READ MORE: Lewis Smith on SailGP's split-fleet rule change https://thefoil.com/news/return-of-the-death-group-sailgp-tweaks-how-groups-are-seeded/
00:00:00 Start
00:06:13 Portsmouth SailGP weather and racecourse preview
00:13:10 Permanent split fleet format?
00:15:53 Form guide and predictions for Portsmouth
00:20:23 Middle East cancellations and Ben Ainslie interview
00:31:11 Martine Grael returns as driver for Brazil
00:36:51 The controversial “anticipation” rule in SailGP
00:43:38 America's Cup + SailGP calendar clash
Listen to our podcast on Spotify and other platforms: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/NSR2217026422
#TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #SailGP

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This week, The Foil’s podcast team train their focus on Emirates Great Britain as they head for home waters and the Portsmouth SailGP next week.
Following a plug for our first live podcast – on the morning of Sunday July 26 at Musto’s flagship Lighthouse store on Portsmouth’s waterfront – Neil Cole, Andy Rice and Freddie Carr get into an analysis of reigning champions Emirates GBR and how their title defence is going at the mid-point of season six.
After a fast start in Australasia, “the wheels fells of when they got to the Americas”, as Andy puts it. Yet through it all the British F50 is still equal second on points with Spain’s Los Gallos, despite failing to score at all in two rounds.
Andy asks Freddie for insight into how the team management operates: is a “good vibes” Gareth Southgate approach or more a “hairdryer” Thomas Tuchel environment?
Freddie then dives into the Emirates GBR backstory, cycling back to the first season of SailGP and plotting how the team has evolved. As he says, this was a pioneering squad that led the commercial growth that has made SailGP such a success story.
Speaking of success, from this point what will a successful 2026 look like for the remaining champions over the course of the season’s second half? The team assess the merits of making the Grand Final or the ‘moral victory’ of topping the leaderboard.
To conclude, Andy and Freddie then offer a round-up of the latest America’s Cup news, having also considered the blend between SailGP and Naples next year for both Emirates GBR and GB1, which both operate under the Athena Racing umbrella.
For The Foil live podcast, sign up for your FREE tickets here: https://buytickets.at/thefoil/2299605
For our round-up of the week in racing, go to: https://thefoil.com/news/the-week-in-racing-13-july-26/
Subscribe to The Foil on YouTube for a new episode every week, and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.
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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:44 Emirates GBR in 2026
10:09 Team management
12:52 History of the franchise
33:32 Heading into Portsmouth
38:10 Evolution for 2027
40:50 What’s success in 2026?
44:55 Emirates GBR and GB1 blend
50:00 why Portsmouth is key
52:40 America’s Cup latest

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A year out, The Foil’s podcast team ask the key question: can any of the six teams lining up against the Defender really take on and beat Emirates Team New Zealand in Naples at the 38th America’s Cup next July? We run through the teams to assess what we know so far.
ETNZ has Defender privilege – but under the rules of the new partnership arrangement, AC veteran Freddie Carr and Lewis Smith ask whether they have “depowered their advantage” by accepting Naples as the venue rather than racing on their own home waters.
On the point of home advantage, Freddie refers back to his own experience sailing with Luna Rossa in the AC World Series in Naples in 2012 and ’13, when he experienced his “rock star moment” in sailing firsthand. Racing at home really can make a difference.
As Lewis says, Luna Rossa was “a league ahead” in the recent Cagliari Prelim, and asks whether there might also be an operational advantage working from home.
Meanwhile, The French La Roche-Posay team have hit the water in the past week and can make the most of 10 extra sailing days – even if they have capsized this week. Working out of same design stable as ETNZ, Lewis and Freddie weigh up their challenge.
As for the Swiss Alinghi squad, question marks remain over their hardware following the huge capsize last time out in Barcelona, and they are pinned as a late starter too.
As for the official Challenger of Record, unashamed patriot Freddie labels GB1 as the “dark horse for this Cup”, acknowledging the distracting context of the legal battle between Athena Racing and Ineos over the ownership of the British AC75.
The return of Australia is an exciting moment for the Cup, but the team has been up front and honest about their biggest challenge: a lack of time. Freddie describes them as “underdogs”.
Finally, the USA. As Freddie puts it, they are “super under the radar” given the little amount of information that has been confirmed about the American effort. Lewis and Freddie then summarise the fleet and come up with the answers to that big leading question…
Lewis also brings us new of The Foil Live, our first public event taking place on the morning of Sunday 26 July. We’re taking over Musto’s flagship Lighthouse store in Portsmouth ahead of the final day of racing at Emirates Great Britain SailGP for a live podcast – and it’s free to attend.
Get your free tickets here.
Read details of the French capsize this week here https://thefoil.com/news/la-roche-posay-racing-team-capsize-their-ac75-on-fourth-sailing-day/
Subscribe to The Foil on YouTube for a new episode every week, and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.
Listen to our podcast on Spotify and other platforms: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/NSR2...
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
01:34 Andy Rice on Foiling Week
03:17 Can anyone beat New Zealand in AC38?
11.00: ETNZ
17:25 Luna Rossa
21:00 La Roche-Posay
30:00 Alinghi
38:20 GB1
47:10 Team Australia
50:20 Team USA
56:20 audience comments
1:00:50 Any other business
1:04:00 The Foil Live
#TheFoil
#WeAreTheFoil
#SailGP
#AmericasCup
#OlympicSailing

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Sailing has never been healthier – and on this week's pod, that's exactly the problem.
Episode 26 sees Neil Cole, Andy Rice, Lewis Smith and Freddie Carr wrestle with a question that's been sitting uncomfortably in the background: with SailGP, AmericasCup and the Olympics all booming at once, can they share a calendar – or will they start eating each other alive?
The team trace the rivalry back to Bermuda 2017 and the framework agreement Grant Dalton never signed, then lay out just how tight the 2027 calendar really is – nine SailGP weekends, new AC75s splashing and a Cup to be won, plus an Olympic qualification cycle all fighting for the same patch of summer.
Freddie, who knows the Cup's demands better than most, weighs life-changing SailGP prize money against the historical pull of helming a Cup boat, while Lewis – a former World Sailing insider – explains why the governing body faces an almost impossible juggling act. There's a hard look at the cautionary tale of golf's PGA–LIV war, a debate over who actually has the clout to knock heads together, and a real worry that the Olympics, and the women and youth coming through, could be the ones squeezed out.
There's also offshore news, a look at Foiling Week, and a closing poll that has the panel split. Which one would you go for: SailGP riches, an Olympic gold, or the Auld Mug?
Read Freddie’s recent technical breakdown of the SailGP fleet: https://thefoil.com/news/freddie-carr-winging-it-at-half-time-in-sailgp/
Subscribe to The Foil on YouTube for a new episode every week, and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.
Listen to our podcast on Spotify and other platforms: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/NSR2217026422
#TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #SailGP #AmericasCup #OlympicSailing

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“The best of times, the worst of times – but fun all the time.” That’s Andy Rice’s summary of the Canada Sail Grand Prix as The Foil’s podcast team delves into round seven of SailGP 2026.
Andy acknowledges the great work of SailGP’s tech team in returning to the water the three boats damaged in New York, as Lewis Smith and Freddie Carr join him to talk through a weekend that didn’t start well but finished on a high. After Lewis talks through rule changes that have followed the New York event, the team discuss the unexpected low winds of Saturday. And while the racing wasn’t a great spectacle, the “mad for it” Canadian crowd in the grandstand didn’t seem to care.
Sunday was a complete turnaround, with what Andy describes as “one of the best days I’ve seen” in SailGP. The team advocate the decision to split the fleet – despite it triggering a so-called “group of death” – and also the first four-boat final. The winning skipper from Spain’s Los Gallos, Diego Botin, makes an appearance to talk about what Andy describes as “the move of the season” at the start of the final group race, which was “just the right side of clean”. Meanwhile, Bonds Flying Roos’ Tash Bryant sees the funny side (we think) of Andy pointing out that the Australians won zero prize money for finishing fourth. As Tom Slingsby puts it just off camera, “ouch!”.
Read more on Andy’s fleet rating from Halifax: https://thefoil.com/news/andy-rice-rates-the-fleet-after-canada-sailgp/
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Follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil

00:00:00 Start
00:03:53 SailGP Halifax event recap begins
00:13:13 New safety rules and crew changes
00:27:08 Sunday's dramatic weather transformation
00:35:16 Spain's masterclass and move of the season
00:46:29 Artemis technical issues and substitution rules
00:53:35 The split fleet and four-boat final debate
00:58:57 TP52 World Championships and other sailing news

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It's a full house for episode 24 of The Foil Podcast, with a Canada SailGP preview plus the latest America's Cup updates. Neil Cole, Andy Rice, Freddie Carr and Lewis Smith open with a tribute to offshore legend Charlie Dalin before turning to the weekend ahead.
The Canada Sail Grand Prix in Halifax is the fulcrum of @SailGP Season 6 – event seven of thirteen – and the crew dig into why this race course turned the form book on its head last time, what a cold, shifting forecast could do to the foils, and whether we'll see split fleets for points scoring for the first time ever. There's the return of a freshly rebuilt Black Foils boat, a leaderboard that's wide open in the middle, and a look at who badly needs to kick-start their season.
Then it's all about the Cup: Luna Rossa's relaunched AC75, what we spotted (and didn't), the first American training camp in Pensacola, and the design-stable question that could shape the whole AC38 cycle. Plus a pointed debate about whether the @AmericasCup is keeping commercial pace with SailGP. Predictions get made, and some might age better than others…
Read more: https://thefoil.com/news/angry-coutts-bites-back-at-sailgp-critics/
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Follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube.
#TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #SailGP #AmericasCup

0:00 Intro & Charlie Dalin tribute
5:21 Halifax SailGP preview
10:23 Course analysis & split fleets discussion
17:02 Can the Black Foils still make the Grand Final?
23:43 Teams needing a second-half comeback
28:15 Luna Rossa relaunch AC75 "Silver Bullet"
32:30 Pete Burling's influence on Luna Rossa
33:47 American Magic AC40 training camp
36:04 America's Cup marketing & media discussion
37:06 America's Cup design partnerships explained
39:15 Richard Mille Cup & TP52 Worlds update
41:45 Halifax final predictions

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