The Foil Podcast

Australia have now won so many SailGP events that it's starting to look like the anomaly when they don't. Episode 19 of The Foil Podcast digs into a Bermuda Grand Prix that felt like the F50s finally getting to stretch their legs – flat water, proper breeze, big race course – and dissects exactly how Tom Slingsby's crew made it look so straightforward. Andy and Freddie walk through the racing day by day, from Spain's eye-catching foiling speed to the tactical shifts that shaped day two, and from Canada's pivotal error to the breakdown of the grand final itself.

There were other stories worth unpacking too. Glenn Ashby's ankle injury, Artemis's mechanical heartbreak and the thorny question of whether the current redress rules are fit for purpose all get proper airtime – as does Ryan Reynolds's first experience of F50 G-forces, which apparently left the Hollywood A-lister a bit rattled. Freddie also reflects on a bruising week with Gladiator in the TP52 Super Series opener, won ultimately by Sled after a tight last-day battle.

And then, just as Bermuda was neatly wrapped up, the news was finally made official: a new Australian entry for the America's Cup, backed by the Winning family – 18-foot skiff royalty from Sydney Harbour, now setting their sights on the oldest trophy in sport. Andy and Freddie give their first read on what it means and who might be on the boat. Read more at The Foil https://thefoil.com/news/australia-returns-to-the-america-s-cup-after-26-years-led-by-tom-slingsby/

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Musto, the brand that's been building performance sailing gear for decades, working directly with sailors pushing boats and themselves to the limit. We wear it ourselves, on and off the water.

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00:00:00 Start

00:01:34 SailGP travel & expensive pints

00:07:21 TP52 Super Series recap

00:10:18 SailGP Bermuda day one conditions and starts

00:15:46 Spain's aggressive foiling & speed advantage

00:22:02 Glenn Ashby's ankle injury

00:27:28 Ryan Reynolds and F50 G-forces

00:32:51 Artemis breakdown & redress rules

00:38:18 Boundary penalties & pushing the lay lines

00:45:43 Day two tactical changes in lighter winds

00:50:48 Canada's costly mistake

00:56:59 Australia's dominant race strategy

01:02:52 Breaking down the Bermuda final

01:07:03 Australia's historic SailGP dominance

01:11:42 Which teams left Bermuda disappointed?

01:18:26 New Australian America's Cup challenge
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SailGP returns to Bermuda's Great Sound this weekend for the fifth event of season 6. For episode 18 of The Foil Podcast, Neil Cole, Andy Rice and Freddie Carr serve up everything you need to know before the F50s hit the water.

The fourth visit to the spiritual home of SailGP brings a fleet of 12 (no Black Foils until Halifax) onto a stretch of water Andy and Freddie reckon plays more like lake sailing than open-water racing – gear-changey, breeze coming over the land, and a serious advantage to anyone who logged hours there in the AC50 days. Tom Slingsby is the obvious benchmark: he's topped the fleet-racing qualifying series every single time the league has rolled into Bermuda. The lads run over the contenders: a British side licking its wounds after Rio, an Australian squad riding the high of one of the fiercest race-day performances in the league’s history, a US team that simply refuses to let the wheels come off, and the defending Bermuda winners Spain.

Beyond the race weekend, Andy shares a revealing sit-down with Jimmy Spithill on his unwitting role in launching SailGP, an inside look at the radical new Ultim Gitana 18 with its three-axis foil control and U-shaped rudders, and what the Switch class might mean for Olympic sailing. Plus Cole Tapper's Congressional Cup blazer, Freddie's first day back on a TP52 at the 52 Super Series, and a strong case against renting a moped in Bermuda.

This episode is sponsored by Saily, the eSIM built by the team behind NordVPN. Available across more than 200 destinations, with plans flexible enough for a weekend away or a full season chasing the SailGP circuit – no SIM swap, no roaming bill shock, no wandering foreign airports hunting for Wi-Fi. This week we're using Saily ourselves in Bermuda. Download Saily from the app store and use code FOIL15 at checkout for 15% off your first purchase.

This podcast is brought to you by Saily, the worldwide eSim service. Download the Saily app in the appstore and use out code foil15 at checkout to get 15% off your first purchase. For further details go to sail.com/foil15

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New alliances, new signings, and a secret that slipped out… In episode 17, Andy Rice, Freddie Carr and Neil Cole dig into the detail of how AC38 is playing out.

Paul Goodison is the new skipper of Tudor Team Alinghi, while Giles Scott was just announced as the sailing director of American Racing Challenger Team USA. Both are on the podcast this week, and they walk Freddie through the early weeks at their new homes – what they've found, what they've inherited, and what's keeping them up at night with Naples 2027 already feeling closer than it should.

What's emerging behind the scenes, though, may matter more than any individual hire. Alinghi have confirmed a design partnership with GB1, the Challenger of Record, and team director David Endean spells it out simply: with budget caps tightening and late entries scrambling to catch up, only the most prepared teams can afford to go it alone. Goodison himself admits it feels surreal – two campaigns ago, he and Freddie were sharing hotel rooms, taking design calls from opposite ends of the balcony so neither could hear. Now he's walking into the same meeting room as his rivals.

And this week, America's Cup media accidentally confirmed what has been the worst-kept secret this cycle: the seventh challenger is Australia. The quote naming them has since disappeared from the official website, but not before Andy and Freddie saw it. With the cat now out of the bag, they talk through the implications for this cycle.

Beyond the Cup, Freddie reports back from three days on a J-Class in Palma Bay before the TP52 season gets serious, Andy digs into French Olympic Week with special guest Alexia Lahoud, and Matt Wearn calls out Olympic sailing's media coverage from the top step of the podium. Plus a viewer question on whether the Cup's permanent backdrop of legal disputes is a feature or a bug.

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Neil Cole, Andy Rice and Freddie Carr return for the latest episode of The Foil podcast with a range of subjects to discuss. Andy has just returned from Milan where he witnessed the livery reveal for Ferrari’s amazing Hypersail project.

 

First up, the team tackle some audience questions, including when New Zealand’s Black Foils will return to the SailGP fleet as a new F50 takes shape in Southampton. They also discuss potential changes to the SailGP calendar in the wake of the war in the Middle East, the challenges of commentating live on events and the complexity of SailGP rules for racing.

 

Andy then tells us about arriving in Milan during Design Week to find out more about Ferrari’s fascinating venture into the sailing world. “The merging of automotive and maritime,” as Andy puts it. He offers some insight into the sustainability reasons why Ferrari has chosen to dive into sailing and, as Neil puts it, why this is a “moving laboratory” for new technology. Freddie suggests “It could redefine what we think sailing is”. But the team wonders, can a monohull really beat a multihull to a potential Jules Verne Around the World record?

 

An interview with French super-designer Guillaume Verdier – the man behind the Ferrari Hypersail – adds further detail, and he tells Andy how designers from land and sea “speak the same language” of physics.

 

The team then move on to the announcement made in Barcelona this week, as Tudor Team Alinghi announce their line-up for the 38th America’s Cup. “It’s an exciting line-up featuring a lot of talent,” enthuses Freddie. He and Andy then reflect on the importance of the forthcoming Road to Naples AC regatta in Sardinia.

 

To wrap up, Andy then offers an update on the 57th Semaine Olympique Française that is under way in Hyères this week, and Freddie tells us about how much he’s looking forward to grappling with Rainbow, the J-Class classic he’ll be helping to sail this week in Palma.

 

#TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #SailGP #Americascup

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Neil Cole, Andy Rice and Freddie Carr return for the latest episode of The Foil podcast with a range of subjects to discuss. Andy has just returned from Milan where he witnessed the livery reveal for Ferrari’s amazing Hypersail project.

 

First up, the team tackle some audience questions, including when New Zealand’s Black Foils will return to the SailGP fleet as a new F50 takes shape in Southampton. They also discuss potential changes to the SailGP calendar in the wake of the war in the Middle East, the challenges of commentating live on events and the complexity of SailGP rules for racing.

 

Andy then tells us about arriving in Milan during Design Week to find out more about Ferrari’s fascinating venture into the sailing world. “The merging of automotive and maritime,” as Andy puts it. He offers some insight into the sustainability reasons why Ferrari has chosen to dive into sailing and, as Neil puts it, why this is a “moving laboratory” for new technology. Freddie suggests “It could redefine what we think sailing is”. But the team wonders, can a monohull really beat a multihull to a potential Jules Verne Around the World record?

 

An interview with French super-designer Guillaume Verdier – the man behind the Ferrari Hypersail – adds further detail, and he tells Andy how designers from land and sea “speak the same language” of physics.

 

The team then move on to the announcement made in Barcelona this week, as Tudor Team Alinghi announce their line-up for the 38th America’s Cup. “It’s an exciting line-up featuring a lot of talent,” enthuses Freddie. He and Andy then reflect on the importance of the forthcoming Road to Naples AC regatta in Sardinia.

 

To wrap up, Andy then offers an update on the 57th Semaine Olympique Française that is under way in Hyères this week, and Freddie tells us about how much he’s looking forward to grappling with Rainbow, the J-Class classic he’ll be helping to sail this week in Palma.
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