Bermuda removed from SailGP calendar
Bermuda is a notable absentee from the SailGP calendar next season.
With the organisation releasing the fixtures for the 2024-25 season yesterday, Bermuda’s spot in the calendar has been taken by Brazil, who will be hosting its first SailGP event in May 2025.
Brazil will be represented for the first time next season after Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Capital last month strengthened its connection to SailGP by making an investment to acquire a new team, which will represent the South American country.
Five continents will be visited during the course of the season with the global championship heading to New Zealand in January 2025 and Australia a month later.
The North American leg will feature events in Los Angeles and San Francisco in March before the global show heads to South America for the Brazil Grand Prix in the first week of May. The league will then return to America in June for the New York Grand Prix.
The European leg includes the much anticipated return to Britain, a third visit to Italy in September and a fourth trip to Spain in October
New events in Germany (August 16-17, 2025) and Geneva, Switzerland (September 20-21, 2025) will also be held.
Bermuda has hosted a leg of the worldwide event for the past three seasons, with the latest competition held in May this year, when the Spanish team provided a surprise to beat New Zealand and Australia in the final.
It is nearly two years since SailGP announced that it had granted approval for a fan-owned racing team across Bermuda and the Caribbean to be run by Bernoulli Locke, a member-based technology company, but despite investment from former NBA star Baron Davis, sufficient funding is still being sought to allow the team to make the start line.
Tracy Berkeley, chief executive of Bermuda Tourism authority, is hopeful that Bermuda will be back on the hosting list in 2026.
“Bermuda hosted SailGP in 2021, 2022 and 2024, and we are proud of our multiyear partnership with this growing international brand,” Berkeley said.
“While we are not positioned to host the SailGP competition in 2025, we have our sights set on reprising our host status in 2026.”