Britain's SailGP team is the first to train at the league's new base at American Magic's center in Pensacola. Six teams have booked time before the Nov. 21-22 Dubai race.

SailGP’s first long-term training base is open in Pensacola, and the first team is already on the water. Emirates GBR, Great Britain’s team, began training at the base this week, the league said Monday.

The base is at American Magic’s high-performance center in Pensacola. SailGP said it will be a year-round training hub for the league’s whole fleet of F50s, the 50-foot foiling catamarans its teams race.

What is new

The league’s own dedicated training F50 arrived at the facility last week, SailGP said. Shore crew unpacked it from several shipping containers to build, test and sea trial it before the first team arrived.

The base lets teams test, train and innovate outside race weekends for the first time, the league said.

SailGP said:

  • six teams, including Great Britain, have booked training time at the base
  • Australia’s team, the Bonds Flying Roos, is among those due to train in Pensacola
  • the teams are preparing for the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix on Nov. 21-22
  • the season’s Grand Final follows in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 28-29

How the base works

SailGP and American Magic announced the partnership in January, the day American Magic opened its Pensacola center. The agreement runs through the end of 2031, the league said then.

Teams pay only for the days they use. The league manages the schedule so every team gets the same access. SailGP said a team’s first 10 training days sit outside the $10 million annual operating cap in its participation agreement.

Pensacola is American Magic’s first permanent base. The team was set up in 2017 to challenge for the America’s Cup and now also runs Olympic, women’s and youth sailing programs, according to SailGP’s January announcement.

What they said

“The conditions in Pensacola’s bay will be fantastic, and having this centralized base will undoubtedly raise the standard of racing and depth across the entire fleet,” Emirates GBR driver Dylan Fletcher said in the league’s release.

“Pensacola offers consistent conditions and a world-class setup that will allow our teams to test, train and innovate continuously,” SailGP managing director Andrew Thompson said.

In January, SailGP CEO Russell Coutts said Pensacola was chosen for its “world-class facilities, consistent conditions and a central base for SailGP in the United States.”

What it means for you

  • Watch for F50s on the water. With six teams booked before late November, the catamarans will be training out of Pensacola in the weeks ahead.
  • No races here yet. The base is for training, not racing. SailGP’s season ends in the Middle East in November.
  • Watch the teams that trained here race in Dubai on Nov. 21-22. The event page lists how to watch.

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