Perth lands ‘unique’ SailGP event, mounts challenge to Australia’s sporting capital

Melbourne might have a new challenger for the title of Australia’s sporting capital after a city landed a new event with a “unique” twist.

Perth is continuing to mount a case as one of the sporting capitals of Australia after landing a new event to be held on the pristine waters off the Western Australian coast.

Australia will have the rare honour of hosting multiple SailGP events after the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix was added to the 2026 calendar of the global sailing league likened to Formula One on water.

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Season six of SailGP will kick off in Perth on January 17-18 next year, with Australian fans getting to watch the F50s in action from waterfront grandstands for the first time at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach.

The Sydney event has been a fixture on the calendar since SailGP’s inception, but the unique nature of that course means spectators are dotted around the harbour on boats and vantage points like Shark Island.

There is nothing quite like watching the high-tech, colourful boats that can reach speeds of 100km/h, fly past the shoreline in front of fans sitting on the edge of the water in grandstands.

Kinley Fowler, a member of Australia’s champion BONDS Flying Roos team, grew up in Perth and can’t wait to sail at home with the Fremantle doctor in the natural amphitheatre of Bathers Beach.

“It’s been really exciting,” Fowler told news.com.au.

“I got wind of the possibility of an event coming to Perth a couple of months ago and ever since joining SailGP at the very beginning in 2018-19, it has been a massive dream of mine to have an event come to Perth in home waters and now it’s happening. I’m super excited.”

An image of the course for the SailGP event in Fremantle, Perth. Photo: Supplied.

SailGP season six will kick off at Fremantle’s Bathers Beach. Photo: Tourism Western Australia

“We’ll be racing in the Freo Doctor and good breeze, which is every sailor’s dream, but we’ll also be coming within metres of all the grandstands there and in front of friends and family.

“Something unique with this venue at Bathers Beach is we’re going to have grandstands on either side of the course. It really is going to feel like a stadium for us out on the water.

“It feels like the sport is growing massively and to kick off the season in Perth with big grandstands, it’s going to be real stadium racing in good breeze.”

Australia’s SailGP team, which won the first three seasons of the league, recently rebranded as the BONDS Flying Roos as part of a new multimillion dollar deal that saw actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds join the team as co-owners.

“To have an iconic Australia brand like BONDS is super exciting … it makes complete sense,” said Fowler.

“And to have Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds speaks volumes to how much this league is growing.

“We’re really excited to see their vision because they’re creative guys and we know that they’re dreaming up something big for our team. It’s going to be exciting to see where they take it.”

Kinley Fowler (left) on Australia’s SailGP boat with driver Tom Slingsby. Photo: Jason Ludlow for SailGP.

Kinley Fowler (right) can't wait to sail on his home waters in WA. He’ll be hoping to do more of this celebrating.Photo: Jason Ludlow for SailGP.

Australia sits second on the season five leaderboard, one point behind reigning champions Spain after six events.

“This season is definitely a lot more challenging,” Fowler said.

“Every year in SailGP it gets more competitive. We’re seeing a lot of this young talent come through, they’re getting used to the boats and starting to gel as a team.

“It really is challenging for us and it’s something that we’re working on every day with our coaches and data analysts to try and get the edge because the unique thing about this league is that everyone is on identical boats and everyone has access to all of the data from every other boat.

“It’s pretty hard to stay at the top but we have a really good culture in our team of not only having a good time, but making sure that we’re constantly trying to push the envelope with development and trying to make the boat go faster, trying to be better at manoeuvring, starting and all of the little one-percenters that can that can maintain our lead is what we’re going after now.

SailGP season five continues this weekend at the Emirates Great Britain Grand Prix at Portsmouth on July this weekend, which Aussies can watch on Sunday and Mornday morning at 1am AEST.

SailGP is expanding with a tender process underway for two new teams to join the league in 2026, which would grow the fleet to 14 teams.

The BONDS Flying Roo sailing next to the Statue of Liberty.

Australia's Flying Roos continue their SailGP season at the Great Britain Grand Prix this weekend.

New contender for Australia’s sporting capital?

SailGP’s expansion begs the question, does Perth have a case to be in the discussion as one of Australia’s sporting capital?

That crown belongs to Melbourne, which boasts the F1 Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open, AFL Grand Final, Boxing Day Test and Melbourne Cup.

Brisbane has Magic Round and the pilgrimage to South Australia is becoming more popular thanks to the AFL’s Gather Round and the cricket Test match at the Adelaide Oval.

Perth continues to attract major sporting events — from WWE, major Socceroos and Matildas games, overseas football friendlies and State of Origin games.

A major part of Perth’s new-found sporting attraction is the state-of-the-art Optus Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000, which is proving to be a coup for tourism to Western Australia.

Melbourne’s sporting precinct is unmatched, but does it have a challenger for the title of Australia’s sporting capital? Photo: Michael Klein Melbourne Aerial

UFC Fight Night is coming to Perth’s RAC Arena on September 28, continuing the promotion’s relationship with the WA capital after Perth hosted UFC 284 and UFC 305. 

“Perth in the summertime is just an amazing place to be, particularly out on the water,” said Fowler.

“We have the Freo Doctor here, which is the sea breeze which comes in every day at over 20 knots, which is the ideal conditions for anyone who does any water sports like kitesurfing or sailing or anything like that.

“It’s great to come back to Perth and see how much investment is going into bring sporting events here. We’re just really happy SailGP is part of it and we get to kick off the season here.”

Register for SailGP+ to receive early access and exclusive pricing for SailGP Perth from August 22. General public tickets go on sale from August 28.

Originally published as Perth lands ‘unique’ SailGP event, mounts challenge to Australia’s sporting capital