The Foil Podcast

Mozzy and Freddie are back with a bonus podcast, previewing the AC38 Cagliari preliminary regatta, the curtain-raiser on the road to Naples. With only 11 of last Cup's AC75 sailors returning to the racecourse, and a fresh wave of names making their debuts, this opening regatta in Sardinia feels less like a tune-up and more like the moment the next America’s Cup cycle properly begins. Mozzy and Freddie work through every announced crew list – from Emirates Team New Zealand’s Outteridge–Menzies pairing and the lingering Blair Tuke question, to GB1's surprising helm call, Athena Racing's two-female-helm setup, Luna Rossa's almost-too-stacked talent pool, Alinghi's freshly assembled lineup, and the French team's combination that could yet emerge as the dark horse of the weekend. The Cagliari prelim also marks the first time we'll see B-boat sailors racing for seats on the AC75 itself – a significant format change that could reshape squad dynamics across every syndicate as the fleet builds towards Naples 2027. READ MORE: https://thefoil.com/news/mozzy-s-take-on-cagliari-crew-lists-who-s-in-who-s-out-and-why/ https://thefoil.com/news/freddie-carr-why-the-ac38-prelim-regatta-in-cagliari-matters/ Follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. 00:00:00 — Intro 00:04:28 — Emirates Team New Zealand (A Boat) 00:10:32 — Emirates Team New Zealand (Youth & Women's Boat) 00:13:49 — GB1 (A Boat) 00:20:36 — Athena (Youth & Women's Boat) 00:29:23 — Luna Rossa 00:36:03 — Tudor Team Alinghi 00:40:45 — La Roche-Posay Racing Team (France) 00:47:43 — Predictions & picks #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #AmericasCup Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Australia have now won so many SailGP events that it's starting to look like the anomaly when they don't. Episode 19 of The Foil Podcast digs into a Bermuda Grand Prix that felt like the F50s finally getting to stretch their legs – flat water, proper breeze, big race course – and dissects exactly how Tom Slingsby's crew made it look so straightforward. Andy and Freddie walk through the racing day by day, from Spain's eye-catching foiling speed to the tactical shifts that shaped day two, and from Canada's pivotal error to the breakdown of the grand final itself. There were other stories worth unpacking too. Glenn Ashby's ankle injury, Artemis's mechanical heartbreak and the thorny question of whether the current redress rules are fit for purpose all get proper airtime – as does Ryan Reynolds's first experience of F50 G-forces, which apparently left the Hollywood A-lister a bit rattled. Freddie also reflects on a bruising week with Gladiator in the TP52 Super Series opener, won ultimately by Sled after a tight last-day battle. And then, just as Bermuda was neatly wrapped up, the news was finally made official: a new Australian entry for the America's Cup, backed by the Winning family – 18-foot skiff royalty from Sydney Harbour, now setting their sights on the oldest trophy in sport. Andy and Freddie give their first read on what it means and who might be on the boat. Read more at The Foil https://thefoil.com/news/australia-returns-to-the-america-s-cup-after-26-years-led-by-tom-slingsby/ This episode is brought to you by our friends at Musto, the brand that's been building performance sailing gear for decades, working directly with sailors pushing boats and themselves to the limit. We wear it ourselves, on and off the water. Follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #SailGP 00:00:00 Start 00:01:34 SailGP travel & expensive pints 00:07:21 TP52 Super Series recap 00:10:18 SailGP Bermuda day one conditions and starts 00:15:46 Spain's aggressive foiling & speed advantage 00:22:02 Glenn Ashby's ankle injury 00:27:28 Ryan Reynolds and F50 G-forces 00:32:51 Artemis breakdown & redress rules 00:38:18 Boundary penalties & pushing the lay lines 00:45:43 Day two tactical changes in lighter winds 00:50:48 Canada's costly mistake 00:56:59 Australia's dominant race strategy 01:02:52 Breaking down the Bermuda final 01:07:03 Australia's historic SailGP dominance 01:11:42 Which teams left Bermuda disappointed? 01:18:26 New Australian America's Cup challenge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New alliances, new signings, and a secret that slipped out… In episode 17, Andy Rice, Freddie Carr and Neil Cole dig into the detail of how AC38 is playing out. Paul Goodison is the new skipper of Tudor Team Alinghi, while Giles Scott was just announced as the sailing director of American Racing Challenger Team USA. Both are on the podcast this week, and they walk Freddie through the early weeks at their new homes – what they've found, what they've inherited, and what's keeping them up at night with Naples 2027 already feeling closer than it should. What's emerging behind the scenes, though, may matter more than any individual hire. Alinghi have confirmed a design partnership with GB1, the Challenger of Record, and team director David Endean spells it out simply: with budget caps tightening and late entries scrambling to catch up, only the most prepared teams can afford to go it alone. Goodison himself admits it feels surreal – two campaigns ago, he and Freddie were sharing hotel rooms, taking design calls from opposite ends of the balcony so neither could hear. Now he's walking into the same meeting room as his rivals. And this week, America's Cup media accidentally confirmed what has been the worst-kept secret this cycle: the seventh challenger is Australia. The quote naming them has since disappeared from the official website, but not before Andy and Freddie saw it. With the cat now out of the bag, they talk through the implications for this cycle. Beyond the Cup, Freddie reports back from three days on a J-Class in Palma Bay before the TP52 season gets serious, Andy digs into French Olympic Week with special guest Alexia Lahoud, and Matt Wearn calls out Olympic sailing's media coverage from the top step of the podium. Plus a viewer question on whether the Cup's permanent backdrop of legal disputes is a feature or a bug. Follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #AmericasCup #OlympicSailing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Australia's Flying Roos delivered what has to be the best single-day performance in SailGP history at Rio – and episode 15 of The Foil podcast breaks down how they did it. Andy Rice, just back from Rio, joins Freddie Carr and Neil Cole to dissect a Sunday that saw Tom Slingsby's crew take 30 points from a possible 30 in conditions that left most of the fleet scrambling. While others wrestled with the 27.5m wings in building breeze beneath Sugarloaf Mountain, Ian Jensen's wing trim calls and the team's collective calm turned chaos into a masterclass. But this wasn't just about the Aussies. The team digs into why the United States' starting technique might be the most underrated development of the season, how Emirates Great Britain went from season leaders to finishing dead last in this event, and whether SailGP's race course setup under Sugarloaf made life harder than it needed to be. There's also frank discussion about the prize money structure – with Australia's grinder Kinley Fowler watching his teammates pocket USD $400,000 without seeing a cent – and the growing uncertainty around how Season 6 will finish. With Middle East tensions threatening the Dubai and Abu Dhabi events, the conversation turns to potential replacements: Cádiz, Pensacola, or even (fingers crossed) Perth again. This episode is brought to you by Musto – the brand that's been building performance sailing gear for decades, working directly with sailors pushing boats and themselves to the limit. We wear it ourselves, on and off the water. Subscribe now and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #SailGP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Andy Rice and Freddie Carr report live from opposite ends of the Bay of Palma – Andy cycling 10 kilometres along the coast to chase down Olympic stars, Freddie shivering aboard TP52 Gladiator as the rain hammers down. The Trofeo Princesa Sofía has 1,100 sailors across seven race courses and the Tramuntana mountains have been dumping 40-knot gusts into the bay. ILCA 7 sailor Micky Beckett is chasing a fifth consecutive win at this event but had to grind back from tenth after day one, while double Olympic champion Matt Wearn has led the fleet from the start. In the Nacra 17, the Swedes have upset world champions John Gimson and Anna Burnett. And reigning 49er FX Olympic champion Odile Lambriex van Aanholt is juggling a nine-month-old baby, a new crew recruited through a Dutch ‘reality TV talent search’, and a shroud that snapped mid-race. Freddie breaks down the TP52 pre-season: drone scans, new sail sign-offs, and what he calls "playground football" racing – no race committee, no umpires, rules a bit loose. The class is thriving, with Pieter Heerema buying the world championship-winning Quantum Racing operation and inheriting Terry Hutchinson as tactician. A new Brazilian team joins the Super Series, Trinity Racing have built fresh, and Ed Baird and Hamish Pepper are back in the mix. Meanwhile, the America's Cup entry deadline closed this week. Chris Poole's Riptide Racing didn't get across the line, but Karel Komárek may be coming in with an American-flagged challenge featuring Ken Read. And there's another entry the team won't reveal yet – perhaps one of the biggest Cup stories in two decades. And the 2026 Hall of Fame inductees have been announced: Glenn Ashby, Peter Isler, Lowell North, and the Beken family. Andy also catches up with SailGP athletes racing Olympic classes in Palma: Spain's Nicole van der Velden and Joan Cardona from Los Gallos, plus Swiss driver Sebastian Schneiter and his 49er partner Arno de Planta, who's moving from reserve to the grinding role for Rio. This episode is brought to you by Musto – the brand that's been building performance sailing gear for decades, working directly with sailors pushing boats and themselves to the limit. We wear it ourselves, on and off the water. Freddie’s TP52 column: https://thefoil.com/news/freddie-carr-the-authentic-grand-prix-class-i-just-can-t-get-enough-of/ Subscribe now and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #OlympicSailing #SailGP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Taihoro has splashed. Almost 17 months since an AC75 last sailed, Emirates Team New Zealand have fired the first shot in the AC38 arms race. But how far ahead are the Defenders really? And what do the challengers need to do to close the gap? In this episode of The Foil Podcast, resident America's Cup obsessive Tom 'Mozzy' Morris joins Freddie Carr to break down everything we've learned so far from version three of the Kiwi machine. Mozzy believes this protocol delivers fairer rules than ever before – no test boats, no AC40 loopholes, and a more level playing field across the challenger fleet. But Team New Zealand's head start on automation and control systems may prove decisive. Freddie reveals the moment during AC37 when he realised just how far ahead the Defenders were: while the British crew wrestled with boat handling, Pete Burling was simply chatting about wind shifts. With Luna Rossa expected to launch soon and the challengers' window narrowing before the boats ship to Europe, the race is on. This is your essential briefing on the technology, the tactics, and the strategic battles ahead. Subscribe now and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #AmericasCup Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s episode, Freddie Carr, Andy Rice and Neil Cole break down Sydney SailGP – where the USA completed their redemption arc, Slingsby had a few frustrations, and light winds caused a weekend of upsets. Twelve months ago, Team USA capsized on the tow boat heading to practice in Sydney Harbour. It was rock bottom for a team that couldn't catch a break. Jump forward to this weekend and Taylor Canfield is walking around the tech zone like the main character in an action movie – J/70 World Champion, M32 World Champion, and now a SailGP event winner. But Sydney wasn't kind to everyone. Tom Slingsby watched Australia's final hopes disintegrate in Fleet Race 7 when a 30-degree left shift turned what was supposed to be a decisive race into what Freddie Carr calls 'the worst SailGP race I've ever seen.' After missing a Sydney final for the first time ever, the Aussie skipper didn't hold back in the mixed zone, calling out race management for moving the start marks inside the final minute – something he says he's never experienced in over 50 SailGP events. The team also dig into Auckland's uncertain future, with The Ocean Race potentially holding veto power over the venue slot. Russell Coutts is keen to make both events work together – picture IMOCAs and F50s sharing Auckland Harbour in the same weekend – but nothing’s confirmed. The format discussion comes up too. Reaching starts, windward starts, stadium racing versus harbour tours. When you're locked into a 90-minute broadcast window and the wind doesn't cooperate, you end up with what we saw in Race 7. But does SailGP have enough flexibility to adapt? Then there's the propulsion debate that almost ended Freddie and Andy's friendship. Electric motors on sailing boats? One of them thinks it's the future. The other thinks it's powerboat racing. 🔗 Read the Sydney review: https://thefoil.com/news/low-breeze-sydney-still-a-welcome-distraction-from-reality/ 🔗 Watch the weekend recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O43YibDBzxQ Subscribe now and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #SailGP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neil Cole is joined by Andy Rice and Freddie Carr, who were both on the spot in Auckland and witnessed the devastating collision between New Zealand’s Black Foils and DS Team France that left two sailors with serious injuries last weekend. Our trio review all the events, from the cause to the effect that led to SailGP splitting the fleet for the final day of racing. But should the organisers have acted sooner? And does this mean a split-fleet future is the right way to go for SailGP? Andy and Freddie disagree on a “line in the sand” regulation change, but converge on other issues including how the final between SailGP’s three champion teams – Australia’s Flying Roos, Emirates GBR and Spain’s Los Gallos crew – offered an upbeat sporting contest to complete what had been a difficult weekend. What do you think about SailGP right now? To ask the team a question for episode eight next week, ahead of the next round in Sydney, drop a comment below. Subscribe now and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil#WeAreTheFoil#SailGP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last week, The Famous Project crew made history – and Dee Caffari sees it as just the beginning. Freddie Carr sits down with Dee to unpack how eight women became the first all-female crew to complete a non-stop circumnavigation of the globe on a multihull – a 57-day voyage that rewrote the record books despite everything the ocean threw at them. In this exclusive interview, Caffari reveals the stat that stopped her in her tracks: before this voyage, only three women had ever rounded Cape Horn on a multihull. The Famous Project made that number eleven. She explains why the team's legacy matters more than the time on the clock, how co-skipper Alexia Barrier assembled an international crew of seven nationalities, and what it took to keep pushing through catastrophic gear failures that would have broken lesser teams. Also in this episode: Andy Rice reports from New Zealand ahead of Auckland SailGP, with updates on the Black Foils' recovery from Perth, the coaching musical chairs at the Kiwi SailGP team, Iain Jensen joining Emirates Team New Zealand, and the latest on whether Season 6 will feature split fleets or 13 boats on one chaotic start line. Subscribe now and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #OffshoreSailing #SailGP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neil Cole, Freddie Carr and Andy Rice reflect on the main talking points thrown up by the SailGP season opener in Perth – which all agree was the “best event yet”. The team discuss the benefits of racing at an “extreme venue”, while acknowledging pre-event injuries to Chris Draper and Iain ‘Goobs’ Jensen highlight how “hairy” this sport can be. There’s praise for “the wave whisperer” Luke Parkinson, Emirates GBR trimmer and The Foil’s sailor of the weekend, and verdicts on Spain’s mechanically-induced non-start and the controversial collision between New Zealand’s Black Foils and the Swiss crew. Beyond SailGP, The Foil doffs its collective cap to Ian Williams for winning his ninth Match Racing World Championship since 2007. The team also discusses the amazing RORC transatlantic record-breaking feats of Argo and Raven in the past week. Subscribe to The Foil channel and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and LinkedIn. #TheFoil #WeAreTheFoil #SailGP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eight different event winners. Twelve teams separated by margins that would have been unthinkable two seasons ago. The SailGP fleet is levelling up, and the stats are there to prove it. In The Foil's first ever podcast, Neil Cole sits down with Freddie Carr and Andy Rice for a deep-dive into a season where the old certainties no longer applied. Australia – dominant force of seasons one through three – managed just a single event win. Spain, the defending champions, faded when it mattered most. And a British team that looked lost during their American swing somehow transformed into worthy champions. Over the course of an hour we break down what set Season 5 apart, from T-foils that levelled the playing field to the incidents that defined weekends. We examine the stats behind Emirates GBR’s title, debate whether the three-boat final format actually delivers the best racing, and ask some pointed questions about venues that worked – and the ones that were, in Freddie's words, 'a bit of a snore-fest'. The Foil is a brand-new, independent sailing media platform built to cover the sport in its full breadth. We’re here to not only bring you in-depth SailGP coverage, but also connect the worlds of America’s Cup, offshore racing, the Olympics, board sports and the vast keelboat scene – the areas where most of the sport actually lives. If it’s powered by the wind, raced hard, and driven by strong personalities, it’s on our radar. Subscribe now and follow @wearethefoil across all platforms – Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. The conversation’s just getting started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices