Dylan Fletcher’s Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team enters Season 6 as defending champions, having broken Tom Slingsby’s Australian dynasty in Season 5. Fletcher, who won Olympic gold in the 49er at Tokyo 2020, has built a team that combines British sailing precision with the aggressive speed management the F50 demands.
Fletcher’s dual commitment to SailGP and the 38th America’s Cup (as helmsman for GB1/Athena Racing) creates one of the most demanding schedules in professional sailing. The SailGP season runs through November, overlapping with America’s Cup preparation. Managing both campaigns requires exceptional physical fitness, mental resilience, and organizational support.
The Emirates sponsorship gives the British team one of the strongest commercial platforms in SailGP, and the team’s performance in Season 5 justified the investment. The United Kingdom home event in Portsmouth, on the historic Solent, gives Fletcher the opportunity to defend his title on British waters in front of a knowledgeable and passionate sailing audience.
The challenge of defending a SailGP championship while simultaneously preparing for an America’s Cup campaign has not been attempted at this level before. If Fletcher can win both, he will have achieved something without precedent in modern sailing: SailGP champion and America’s Cup winner in the same competitive cycle.