Spain's Los Gallos SailGP Team are facing an anxious wait ahead of the season opener in Perth, after a training crash inflicted serious damage on their F50 with only days to spare before racing begins.
The accident happened during practice racing off Fremantle, close to Bathers Beach, in the kind of conditions the area is notorious for. The Fremantle Doctor was blowing hard, the swell was short and steep, and the boats were under full load. Los Gallos were in the second practice race when a gybe went wrong and the F50 sustained heavy structural damage. No sailors were injured.
SailGP's Tech Team recovered the boat and moved straight into a thorough inspection. The timing is particularly painful: the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix presented by KPMG is the first of 13 events on the 2026 season calendar.
Driver Diego Botín was candid about the extent of the problem, confirming that both board cases had been affected.
"During the gybe, the board case snapped and we had quite a big crash," Botín said. "The board case is damaged, the board is damaged, and also the hull. We need to wait for the Tech Team assessment to know if we can race this weekend or not."
The board case is one of the most structurally loaded areas on an F50. It transfers foil lift and lateral force directly into the hull, and when it gives way mid-manoeuvre, the sudden loss of support commonly triggers secondary damage, turning a single break into a far wider problem.
Botín explained that the crew's immediate priority after the crash was damage limitation.
"We made a big effort to minimise the damage getting back to shore," he said. "Now it's in the hands of the Tech Team. They know these boats better than anyone, but we won't know how bad it really is for a few hours."
Even if the Tech Team determines that repairs are feasible, the work must meet class compliance requirements, pass structural scrutiny, and receive formal sign-off before the boat can race. In SailGP, that process is always a race against the clock.
Botín noted that Los Gallos had actually been going well before the incident, with gusts running at around 40 kilometres per hour and solid wave action on the water.
"We were feeling super strong around the course," he said. "That makes it a big disappointment."
Los Gallos are not the first team to be caught out by Fremantle's demanding conditions. Earlier, Artemis SailGP Team wing trimmer Chris Draper was taken to hospital after suffering facial injuries in a training crash in similar conditions.
Whether Los Gallos make the start line in Perth at all now rests with the Tech Team's repair assessment, a decision that could shape the opening to their 2026 season.
