Sailing Grand Slam: Early steps towards a more sailor-centric circuit

by Kiel Week 5 Apr 04:57 NZDT 21-29 June 2025

From L to R: Dirk Ramhorst, Simon Keijzer, Fred Hagedorn, Ferran Muniesa and Ed Russo © Julia Castro

Sailors don't like paperwork, red tape or excessive amounts of admin. Which is why the Sailing Grand Slam is pushing towards a more sailor-friendly system.

The Sailing Grand Slam (SGS) brings together five major international events into one series during 2025. The first event of the SGS season is already under way this week in Palma, Mallorca, with more than 1,000 athletes competing across all 10 Olympic disciplines at the 54 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by FERGUS Hotels.

As well as a week of hot competition in the water, Palma has also been a good opportunity for representatives of the five different regattas to come together and work towards greater integration between the events. Ferrán Muniesa, director of the Club Nautic Arenal, and one of the organisers of the Trofeo Princesa Sofía, said: "There are many things we are working on to create an international circuit for the Olympic sailors, and this year we are focused on creating a cleaner race entry system.

The Sailing Grand Slam attracts the athletes of the Olympic classes to Kiel, like the ILCA7 - photo © Sascha Klahn

Slashing the paperwork

"The plan is that, once the sailors have registered themselves for one event - such us here in Palma - much of the work will be completed for the rest of the season. Equipment inspection will be hassle free for example with the Palma measurement stickers continuing to be valid in Hyères and at other events across the SGS season."

Next event in a few weeks time is the Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères in the south of France. Event commissioner Ed Russo commented: "Traditionally every regatta has been a standalone event with different Sailing Instructions, different Notice of Race, and so on. We are working to create a standardized set of documents that will become familiar to the sailors and coaches, leaving them to focus on what they're really here to do, the competition on the water."

Exciting races are guaranteed in the 49er - photo © Christian Beeck

Greater continuity

Third event of the season will be Kieler Woche, known to some as Kiel Week, in the north of Germany at the end of June. Head of Organization at Kieler Woche, Dirk Ramhorst, believes bringing the events together will create greater meaning across the season. "There has been a lack of continuity in the season, and we're taking the first steps towards creating more cohesion. This means we can develop a ranking system for the sailors, and we can start to tell the story of these athletes and really help the public get to know and enjoy the sport in a much more meaningful way."

Learning from SailGP

Spanish sailor Florian Trittel appreciates the importance of consistency of message and continuity of storytelling. Last year Trittel was part of the winning Spanish team in the global Grand Prix circuit, SailGP, and a few weeks later won Olympic gold at Paris 2024 sailing the 49er skiff with Diego Botin. "Diego and I are competing this year in SailGP, with 13 events in one year, which means the story is always continuing. So now it's great to see that the Olympic world can benefit from the Sailing Grand Slam. We have seen what the consistency achieves in SailGP and we believe it is very necessary to have the same in Olympic sport. The start of the SGS is a very important step in the right direction."

With Los Angeles 2028 the ultimate focus for this four-year Olympic cycle, event No.4 in the SGS season is the Long Beach Olympic Classes Regatta in July. Event organiser Fred Hagedorn flew across from the USA to join the SGS meeting in Palma. "As a group of events we're investing into social media. We're working on storylines for each event and then storylines that go through all five events, so that the athletes can start to see the value of it. Over time they will start to see the uptick in their social media numbers, and they start to see the uptick in people's interest overall in what's going on, because these stories are being generated and have a continuity that goes from event to event to event."

At home on Kiel's eastern shore for the first time: the iQFoils with fast-paced races - photo © Sascha Klahn

Larger following = Bigger sponsorship

Final event of the season will be Dutch Water Week in September. Communications director Simon Keijzer said the increase in visibility of the sailors would ultimately lead to more commercial value: "We need to get the community following the athletes, because that's when the value will increase. Currently there are less than five sailors in the Olympic circuit with more than 200,000 followers in social media. We need to change this to at least 40 or 50 sailors with this kind of following. More followers will lead to more sponsors and increase their professional standing in the market.

"For this year's Dutch Water Week we are thinking of making it an invitational event, but final format is yet to be resolved so more details to follow," said Keijzer.

For the time being, Muniesa admits the sailors won't notice much change to their lives as the new circuit takes its first baby steps. But over time the SGS is working to bring significant change and improvement to the professional careers of Olympic sailors.

The Sailing Grand Slam consists of the four most iconic Olympic sailing events in Europe as well as a new regatta to be held in the host city of Los Angeles 2028: