“All-or-nothing”: Fletcher lays out Emirates GBR’s last-ditch title defense

Time is running out for defending champion Emirates GBR. With two events to go, there's just one Grand Final spot left and three teams in contention.

Three-time champion Bonds Flying Roos qualified back in Valencia, while 2024 winner Los Gallos booked their place with a triumphant victory in Geneva. Currently in the last qualification spot is Artemis with a slim three-point lead over the United States in fourth. Down in fifth and six points behind third is Emirates GBR - not the ideal place for last season's champion.

The window of opportunity may be closing, but driver Dylan Fletcher is preparing his last-ditch, 11th-hour title defense as the last events loom. Fans may be talking about who will beat who when the three potential qualifiers return to the water, but Fletcher's focus isn't on his competitors. "It might sound wrong, but we're not worried about them too much," he says. "It's not about that - it's about our performance."

Instead of trying to beat the two teams in front of him, Fletcher's ambition is to put his team in 'the best position possible' with plenty of momentum coming into Abu Dhabi. "The best thing you can do is come in on a really positive trajectory and feel like you're on form."

Fletcher is 'confident' Emirates GBR can beat Artemis and the USA to the last qualification spot, but he'll need two consecutive podium positions to do it. The gloves are off and it will be all-or-nothing when racing resumes. "Ultimately, we've got nothing to lose - fourth or 10th are all the same for us, we want to be in the Grand Final."

Key to this is rebounding from the 'ups and downs' of the season. It started perfectly - with a win at the Perth season opener and two second places in Auckland and Sydney. In Rio, the momentum turned. "We had some breakdowns, missed a race and had some unfortunate penalties - it felt like an event where everything went wrong."

They bounced back at the next two events, coming away from Bermuda and New York with a fourth and second place. But Halifax was the start of a 'difficult downward trajectory'. There were two 11th place finishes in Halifax and Portsmouth, a ninth in Sassnitz and a sixth in Valencia. In Geneva, the team were gunning for the Final, but 'a mistake in the last race' meant 'the points just flipped perfectly - that's the way it goes sometimes'. Ultimately, they finished ninth. With six weeks to go until the fleet regroup in Dubai, it's an ideal time for a complete reset.

There's something else too. Before Dubai, Emirates GBR will be one of the first teams to visit the league's brand-new training base in Pensacola. Crucially, Emirates GBR are the only team out of the three potential qualifiers to have additional training before the last two events.

The team booked their spot as soon as the training base was announced, says Fletcher, who was especially keen to train in this off-period between events. "Regardless of where we thought we'd be, we knew we needed to be pushing for the Grand Final - it's so rare to get training in SailGP, so we're really excited about it."

The opportunity of a week's training time before Dubai is significant purely for the chance 'to spend that much time together as a team'. "We're going to be able to work really hard on all the little details and the light wind conditions we're expecting in the Middle East - it's going to be really powerful."

Racing resumes in Dubai (21-22 November) and Abu Dhabi (28-28 November). Get tickets to Dubai and Abu Dhabi or find out how to watch from wherever you are.

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