Germany SailGP Team struggles with starting problems: eleventh place in Portsmouth!

Germany SailGP Team struggles with starting problems: eleventh place in Portsmouth!

On July 21, 2025, the F50 foiler race in Portsmouth experienced a dramatic turnaround that was difficult for all participating teams, especially the Germany SailGP Team. The team from Germany continued to struggle with starting difficulties, which had a negative impact on their overall performance. Erik Kosegarten-Heil, one of the drivers, expressed that these problems cost them a lot in each race, even though they felt comfortable within the action. Difficulties at the start included late and early starts, which resulted in them being overtaken often and ultimately only finishing in eleventh place at the end of the weekend.

On the first day of racing, the team took fourth place. But there were some positive moments on the second day on the water, but overall there wasn't enough for improvement. After seven of the twelve events of the season, the Germany SailGP team remains in eleventh place in the season standings, tied only with the US team, which is at the bottom with no points.

Challenges and incidents

The German team's problems continued as the race progressed. The team was not only punished for violations of the right of way, but also experienced a “horror situation” in the last race. Here the F50 racing catamaran got stuck in the anchor line of a buoy during a buoy round with a foil, which abruptly ended the race. Erik Heil described the situation as extremely concerning as they feared that this could lead to damage to the foil box, which would require a lengthy repair.

The British teams had mixed feelings: they were leaders after the fleet races, but lost in the final to the New Zealanders and Switzerland. While the New Zealand team celebrated their second event win of the season, the Swiss experienced technical problems in the final that forced them to retire. The French team, on the other hand, managed to successfully take part in the second day of the race and secure important points after a broken wing during training thanks to repair work carried out at night.

Looking ahead

The next challenge is already on the horizon for the Germany SailGP team. The focus is on fixing the starting problems for the next event in Sassnitz, which will take place on August 16th and 17th, 2025. They created a to-do list to prepare for their home game in hopes of improving performance. They are now determined to continue improving in the overall standings as the season progresses, no matter how challenging the competition may be.

In total, the event in Portsmouth attracted around 20,000 spectators who watched the impressive competition on the coast. An exciting look now turns to the upcoming events, including stops in St. Tropez, Geneva, Cadíz and Abu Dhabi, which are all on the calendar.