San Francisco, 08 May 2023 - SailGP represents both the present and future of sailing. The championship, partnered by Rolex as the exclusive Official Timepiece since the start of Season 1 in 2019, is a leading light in the sport, encouraging innovation and transformation, as well as competition of the highest level. The Mubadala SailGP Season 3 Grand Final in San Francisco lived up to the standards of excellence set in previous seasons, delivering a compelling spectacle with tension maintained to the very last leg of the final race. Australia SailGP Team demonstrated its impressive credentials claiming a third successive SailGP title, squeezing over the finish line seconds ahead of New Zealand with the Emirates Great Britain team just behind.

Rolex's involvement with yachting stretches back 65 years. The unrelenting pursuit of excellence, together with the marriage of human achievement and technical development, as well as the fierce spirit required to succeed at SailGP make Rolex a natural partner. The synergy is based on a mutual desire to perform at the highest level and SailGP is designed to identify the best sailing team. The boats are identical, each crew has equal training time, and the thousands of channels of data generated every tenth of a second by each boat during racing are shared in real time. Which crew wins is down to processing the relevant information with complete accuracy, correctly reading the tactical situation on the water and acting as one. The F50 foiling catamaran is at the cutting edge. It demands not just skill but physical resilience and athleticism.

Arguably the best Grand Final to date, Season 3's winner-takes-all race was contested by three exceptional crews led by sailors of impeccable quality. Both Australia’s Tom Slingsby and New Zealand’s Peter Burling are Olympic gold medallists, America’s Cup winners and two-time Rolex World Sailors of the Year. Ben Ainslie, the helm of the Great Britain SailGP team and a Rolex Testimonee, is the most successful Olympic sailor of all time with five medals to his name, four of them gold. He is also an America’s Cup winner and a four-time Rolex World Sailor. For him, Team Australia’s victory was well deserved:

“The Australians have been the best team all season. They proved it again today and it is phenomenal achievement."

Heading into this event, held over the weekend of 6-7 May, Australia and New Zealand had, barring disaster, already booked their places in the Grand Final. Great Britain was lying in fourth place, one point outside the top three and needing to do something special to leapfrog a talented French team with two event wins to its name. Hannah Mills is strategist with the British team. She too is cut from the finest cloth. The greatest woman Olympic sailor with two golds and a silver, she is a Rolex Testimonee and a two-time Rolex World Sailor of the Year. With a proverbial mountain to climb to make the cut, Mills revealed ahead of racing that the team was as ready as it could be:

“The pressure and nerves at times like these are unique to professional sport, but as athletes we live for these moments. We have been going through as many different scenarios as we can, the what ifs, and how we are going to respond to different situations to be as best prepared as we can for any eventuality. In practice we have concentrated on perfecting manoeuvres and communication, getting them dialled in, so we can focus on the racing.”

By the end of the first day, the British crew had secured two second places and a first place from the three races answering any questions about their ability to respond to the pressure. The French team had a more turbulent day struggling to find their form. Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand went about their business quietly, in Slingsby's case exuding real confidence to lead the standings. With two races on the Sunday to determine who would join them in the contest for the grand prize, the French lifted their game to win the first. Ainslie and his crew though were not to be denied doing just enough in the second to keep the resurgent French at bay. In the end, it was Australia's race and season. Despite the close finish it was yet another masterful performance deserving of victory. Australia's seeming dominance is not by chance. Time and again the crew has proven its ability by leading from the front, winning four of the 11 events in the Season 3 championship. Its worst result across the year-long series was a fifth place in Saint-Tropez, and on only one other occasion did Australia fail to finish on the podium. For Slingsby there is little time to enjoy his extraordinary run of success. Season 4 starts in just over a month, and he is fully aware of the threat posed by an ever-pressing fleet:

“The fact that we got the job done today is just a huge testament to all the people behind me. Of the three championship wins, this one feels the best, just because of the way we sailed all year. Looking ahead, we really have to look at the dynamic in the team, the atmosphere, the feeling, how we respond to criticism. We have to continue to improve, to find new ways to beat our competitors.”

SailGP Season 4 starts with the Rolex United States Sail Grand Prix in Chicago at Navy Pier from 16-17 June 2023.

ROLEX AND YACHTING
Rolex has always associated with activities driven by passion, excellence, precision and team spirit. The Swiss watchmaker naturally gravitated towards the elite world of yachting six decades ago and the brand's enduring partnership now encompasses the most prestigious clubs, races and regattas, as well as towering figures in the sport, including ground-breaking round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester and the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, Sir Ben Ainslie. Today, Rolex is Title Sponsor of 15 major international events - from leading offshore races such as the annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race, to grand prix competition at the Rolex TP52 World Championship and spectacular gatherings at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and the Rolex Swan Cup. It also supports the exciting SailGP global championship in which national teams race identical supercharged F50 catamarans on some of the world's most famous harbours. Rolex's partnerships with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Royal Ocean Racing Club, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Yacht Club Italiano, New York Yacht Club and Royal Yacht Squadron, among others, are the foundation of its enduring relationship with this dynamic sport.

ABOUT ROLEX
AN UNRIVALLED REPUTATION FOR QUALITY AND EXPERTISE
Rolex is an integrated and independent Swiss watch manufacture. Headquartered in Geneva, the brand is recognized the world over for its expertise and the quality of its products - symbols of excellence, elegance and prestige. The movements of its Oyster Perpetual and Cellini watches are certified by COSC, then tested inhouse for their precision, performance and reliability. The Superlative Chronometer certification, symbolized by the green seal, confirms that each watch has successfully undergone tests conducted by Rolex in its own laboratories according to its own criteria. These are periodically validated by an independent external organization. The word “Perpetual” is inscribed on every Rolex Oyster watch. But more than just a word on a dial, it is a philosophy that embodies the company’s vision and values. Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of the company, instilled a notion of perpetual excellence that would drive the company forward. This led Rolex to pioneer the development of the wristwatch and numerous major watchmaking innovations, such as the Oyster, the first waterproof wristwatch, launched in 1926, and the Perpetual rotor self-winding mechanism, invented in 1931. In the course of its history, Rolex has registered over 500 patents. At its four sites in Switzerland, the brand designs, develops and produces the majority of its watch components, from the casting of the gold alloys to the machining, crafting, assembly and finishing of the movement, case, dial and bracelet. Furthermore, the brand is actively involved in supporting the arts and culture, sport and exploration, as well as those who are devising solutions to preserve the planet.