“The move of the season”: Halifax SailGP unpicked – The Foil Podcast – Ep 25

“The best of times, the worst of times – but fun all the time.” That’s Andy Rice’s summary of the Canada Sail Grand Prix as The Foil’s podcast team delves into round seven of SailGP 2026.Andy acknowledges the great work of SailGP’s tech team in returning to the water the three boats damaged in New York, as Lewis Smith and Freddie Carr join him to talk through a weekend that didn’t start well but finished on a high. After Lewis talks through rule changes that have followed the New York event, the team discuss the unexpected low winds of Saturday. And while the racing wasn’t a great spectacle, the “mad for it” Canadian crowd in the grandstand didn’t seem to care.Sunday was a complete turnaround, with what Andy describes as “one of the best days I’ve seen” in SailGP. The team advocate the decision to split the fleet – despite it triggering a so-called “group of death” – and also the first four-boat final. The winning skipper from Spain’s Los Gallos, Diego Botin, makes an appearance to talk about what Andy describes as “the move of the season” at the start of the final group race, which was “just the right side of clean”. Meanwhile, Bonds Flying Roos’ Tash Bryant sees the funny side (we think) of Andy pointing out that the Australians won zero prize money for finishing fourth. As Tom Slingsby puts it just off camera, “ouch!”.Read more on Andy’s fleet rating from Halifax: https://thefoil.com/news/andy-rice-rates-the-fleet-after-canada-sailgp/Listen to our podcast on Spotify and other platforms: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/NSR2...Follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil 00:00:00 Start00:03:53 SailGP Halifax event recap begins00:13:13 New safety rules and crew changes00:27:08 Sunday's dramatic weather transformation00:35:16 Spain's masterclass and move of the season00:46:29 Artemis technical issues and substitution rules00:53:35 The split fleet and four-boat final debate00:58:57 TP52 World Championships and other sailing news Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices