U.S. SailGP Team and Artemis claim Group B spots as Los Gallos top Group A in Halifax

Race Day 2 in Halifax arrived with sunshine and a building breeze, a marked improvement on Saturday, when a dying wind had strangled proceedings and left the fleet with just four scrappy races to show for the day. The split-fleet format carried over from Day 1, and with Group A having led off on Saturday, Group B took the stage first. Conditions filled in fast enough that boats were soon airborne on their foils.

Going into the day, Group A was led by BONDS Flying Roos on 10 points, while Artemis sat on top of Group B with 9. The U.S. SailGP Team, by contrast, sat near the foot of the table on just 1 point.

With the finals not yet decided and every position still negotiable, Day 2 was always going to draw out the tactical best from the fleet, and it delivered.

Day 2, Race 4

Emirates GBR was absent from Group B's lineup, their wing damaged during earlier training and leaving only five boats to race.

Group B: Artemis go back to back

At the start, U.S. SailGP Team matched Artemis stride for stride and was still with them at Mark 1, but Artemis found another gear from that point. The cushion they built fluctuated as the race unfolded, trimming to just four seconds by Gate 4, the kind of gap that keeps the pack thinking about a pass.

The real theatre, though, played out behind that margin. U.S. SailGP Team and Germany by Deutsche Bank repeatedly swapped second place through the closing legs, while Explora Journeys Swiss and Red Bull Italy scrapped with each other for fourth. All that commotion in the chasing pack served Artemis well. They stretched their advantage through it all, converting a four-second buffer into a 13-second winning margin by the finish line.

U.S. SailGP Team held second in the end, with Germany by Deutsche Bank, Explora Journeys Swiss and Red Bull Italy crossing in close succession for the remaining places. A composed, drama-free win for Artemis, their second in a row, built on a race that tightened before it stretched out again.

Group A: Los Gallos charge through

Seven boats made up the Group A fleet: DS Automobiles FRA, Los Gallos, Black Foils, NorthStar, Mubadala Brazil, ROCKWOOL Racing and BONDS Flying Roos.

Los Gallos made the boldest call at the start, driving in from well back in the seven-boat field to steal the front of the line. The advantage they claimed there only grew with every passing leg. At Gate 3 they led NorthStar by eight seconds; by Gate 4 that had grown to ten; by the finish it was eighteen. A race that began with Los Gallos working their way up from nowhere ended with them pulling steadily clear of every rival.

The more interesting story was further back. Black Foils had been right among the leaders at Mark 1, travelling in the mid-70s km/h, before losing their foils at Gate 2 and surrendering several places in an instant, a stumble that may well have cost them a finals berth. What followed was a relentless recovery drive through the closing stages, turning the tail end of the race into a tight, scrappy contest for the minor placings that their Gate 2 fall had threatened to write them out of entirely.

NorthStar held second for the duration, but BONDS Flying Roos and Black Foils closed in on them relentlessly, and all three crossed the line within seconds of each other, still shoving for position. DS Automobiles FRA and ROCKWOOL Racing, by contrast, drifted out of that fight early and were never factors. Mubadala Brazil didn't make the finish at all, losing their foils near the grandstand.

Diego Botin on the start: "High risk for us, but we pulled it off."

The win lifted Los Gallos level at the top of Group A alongside BONDS Flying Roos, both on 11 points. Black Foils recovered to third on 9 despite their Gate 2 setback, with Los Gallos recording 100 per cent foiling time across the race.

Day 2, Race 5

Group B: the playoff for the final

Artemis had already punched their ticket to the final with 14 points, so the second Group B spot became a direct contest between Explora Journeys Swiss, sitting on 10 points, and Germany by Deutsche Bank on 8, the Germans knowing they needed something close to a race win to leapfrog through. As it turned out, the fight between them was settled early and with little fuss, while the most gripping battle of the race developed further up the leaderboard.

Germany's qualifying hopes were effectively ended at Gate 3, when they spun out and surrendered whatever margin they had left to recover. From that moment their deficit to the front of the fleet only grew, and the equation for Explora Journeys Swiss simplified itself: stay ahead of Germany, which they always appeared capable of doing.

The race for the win was altogether more dramatic, and it changed hands more than once. Explora Journeys Swiss led from Mark 1 through to Gate 2, but a wide-searching gamble for breeze cost them the advantage. U.S. SailGP Team pounced on the opening and by Gate 4 had turned a tight contest into a three-second lead they never relinquished, eventually winning by 19 seconds. Red Bull Italy contributed their own late drama, squeezing Germany hard at the finish to force the error that sealed third over fourth. Explora Journeys Swiss did enough in second to claim the remaining final berth alongside Artemis, while U.S. SailGP Team's victory, built on capitalising on a rival's misstep and then pulling clear of the pack, was the clearest sign yet of their improving form. They posted 100 per cent foiling time after a difficult opening day.

Taylor Canfield: "Good day for us, bummer of a day for us yesterday. We went to the drawing board last night and made some adjustments and changes. That showed up today on the race track. Tricky race track, we had a good grip on it. The whole team performed really well, operating through the big wings and foils. Managing the power is tricky but overall we did a good job, front to back."

Group A: down to the wire

BONDS Flying Roos required only a fourth-place finish or better to secure their finals spot, which shifted the real tension onto the fight for second between Los Gallos, sitting on 11 points, and Black Foils on 9. NorthStar were too far back to mount a realistic challenge.

The start was anything but clean. NorthStar crossed the line first, with BONDS Flying Roos, ROCKWOOL Racing and Los Gallos all within milliseconds of each other, and Black Foils along with DS Automobiles FRA further back behind them. It wasn't the start Black Foils needed. NorthStar picked up an early penalty.

BONDS Flying Roos led at Mark 1 from Black Foils and DS Automobiles FRA, but the order shuffled repeatedly through the middle legs as Black Foils and Los Gallos traded places in what amounted to a two-boat arm wrestle for the second finals berth. Black Foils lost ground in traffic while stuck behind ROCKWOOL Racing and Los Gallos, who were cutting off their wind. By Gate 4 BONDS Flying Roos had clear air at the front, with NorthStar, Black Foils, Los Gallos and ROCKWOOL Racing bunched tightly in their wake.

ROCKWOOL Racing became the key that could unlock everything. The maths were straightforward: if Los Gallos finished ahead of ROCKWOOL Racing, they would go through to the final over Black Foils. If ROCKWOOL Racing could slot between the two rivals, Black Foils would claim the spot instead.

What followed was outright match racing. Unable to manufacture the separation they needed, Black Foils deliberately slowed to shadow Los Gallos, hoping ROCKWOOL Racing would catch them and slide between the two teams. BONDS Flying Roos crossed first, NorthStar 14 seconds behind in second. The real drama was for third: Black Foils and Los Gallos crossed the line together, 37 seconds back, with ROCKWOOL Racing just half a metre behind them in fourth at 38 seconds, agonisingly short of splitting the two rivals apart.

On those results, Los Gallos advanced to the final on 13 points, joining BONDS Flying Roos on 18. Black Foils missed out on 12 points, NorthStar were never in the hunt on 9. ROCKWOOL Racing logged 99.9 per cent foiling time across the race.

Diego Botin on the closing manoeuvre: "They needed to put a boat between them and us. Made it clear they were going to slow us down."

The Final: Los Gallos break through

Before racing got underway, the athletes of the day were announced: Diego Botin (driver, Los Gallos), Andrew Campbell (strategist, U.S. SailGP Team), Chris Dapper (wing trimmer, Artemis) and Andy Maloney (flight controller, Artemis).

For the first time in SailGP history, four boats contested the final: BONDS Flying Roos, Artemis, Los Gallos and Explora Journeys Swiss. It was Artemis's first ever final.

Artemis began the race already playing catch-up. Forced to bear away just before the starting gun, they were last across the line by a whisker, and that slim deficit became the story of the entire race, a gap they spent seven legs trying to claw back. By Mark 1 Los Gallos had established control at the front, and through the middle of the course they and Explora Journeys Swiss exchanged the lead in fractions of a second, while Artemis steadily worked their way back through the fleet behind them. By Gate 3 Los Gallos had broken away to lead the remaining trio. By Gate 5 Artemis had hauled themselves back to within a single second of the front, the closest the deficit came to closing all race.

Even that wasn't enough. Artemis dived for the outside lane on the run to the finish, searching for the passing opportunity that would have completed the comeback, but Los Gallos defended their line and crossed first, claiming their maiden win of the season on a day they had opened by storming forward from the back of the fleet and closed by holding off a hard-charging final assault.

The result also ended BONDS Flying Roos's run of three consecutive event wins.

Halifax's biggest story was the turnaround from U.S. SailGP Team, who battled back from a difficult opening day to finish fifth, with a commanding win in Group B's qualifying race as their headline result. The return of Black Foils was the event's other major talking point: they completed the regatta with the boat in one piece, found more pace and confidence as the days progressed, and injected genuine tension into the day's most dramatic moment, the Group A fleet race that came down to a virtual dead heat decided by fractions.

The fleet now heads to Portsmouth for the next event.

2026 season leaderboard

Halifax's points haul told different stories for different teams. Los Gallos and Artemis had the best events outright, adding 10 and 9 points respectively. Los Gallos climbed two places in the standings from fourth to second, while NorthStar also moved up two positions from tenth to eighth, benefiting largely from others around them stalling rather than from a big points day.

Emirates GBR suffered the most costly non-result of the event among the top teams, scoring zero points and slipping from second to third. ROCKWOOL Racing also failed to score and dropped out of the top eight. Mubadala Brazil's penalty wiped out what would have been a useful points day and left them static while others moved around them.

The gap at the summit widened. BONDS Flying Roos had led Emirates GBR by 11 points going into Halifax. They now lead the chasing pack, Los Gallos and Emirates GBR tied, by 18 points. The sharpest compression happened at the foot of the table, where Black Foils climbed from last place by some margin, 3 points and 7 adrift of twelfth, to tied with Mubadala Brazil for twelfth.

In practical terms, the teams with any real hope of pressuring BONDS Flying Roos are those who have already demonstrated the form to back it up: Los Gallos, fresh off a Halifax win, and Artemis, who pushed Los Gallos to within a second in the final and have now strung together two strong events. U.S. SailGP Team's turnaround is genuine, though they remain 21 points off the lead. From Germany by Deutsche Bank downward, the picture looks more like a long shot unless a team can win back-to-back events while BONDS Flying Roos simultaneously suffer a poor run.