ABU DHABI, UAE – November 29, 2025 ROCKWOOL Racing set the pace on the opening day of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix 2025 Season Grand Final, presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council, while several championship favourites struggled to find rhythm in light and crowded conditions. After four fleet races, ROCKWOOL Racing (37), Mubadala Brazil (22), and Red Bull Italy (22) sit at the top of the event leaderboard.
Meanwhile, some of the competitions potential finals teams endured a tough day on the Arabian Gulf. Emirates GBR (10), Australia (11), and Spain (12) finished 10th, 11th, and 12th respectively, while Peter Burling’s Black Foils – second on overall season standings – ended the day in eighth.
Abu Dhabi: Light winds, new wings and penalties
All 12 teams debuted the fleet’s new 27.5-metre wingsail setup, along with light-air foils to squeeze speed from the gentle 7–10 km/h breeze. The condensed racetrack added pressure, and even the most experienced crews found themselves tangled in traffic.
Penalties became the theme of the day. A total of 27 were handed out by SailGP umpires, including two early-start penalties each for Tom Slingsby’s BONDS Flying Roos and Diego Botín’s Los Gallos. Switzerland suffered the biggest blow – an 8-point penalty for causing damage to the New Zealand F50 in fleet race four.
Slingsby said, “We received two early start penalties today – it’s frustrating but I saw a lot of teams getting penalties so maybe everyone is having similar issues.”
Despite the uncharacteristically low ranking, the Flying Roos ended the day one place ahead of Spain – crucial in the tight battle for tomorrow’s Grand Final qualification. “We are trying to control the situation as best we can, we are in a better position than we were at the start of the day,” Slingsby added. “It doesn’t look like that when you are in 10th overall but as long as Spain is behind us – we are happy.”
Spain’s Diego Botín summed up his frustration: “It was a very light and tough day – the starts get a lot of waiting in these conditions and we pushed for it and it made us make a few mistakes. We will keep pushing tomorrow even though things aren’t super hopeful for us.”
Emirates GBR driver Dylan Fletcher also noted how chaotic the tight course had become “There’s a lot happening with a condensed racetrack and the fleet arriving at similar times, so it gets busy fast – we saw some tight mark roundings and plenty of place changes on that final leg. I think it’ll be completely different in the Grand Final with only three boats.”
