Latest news with #DiegoBotín
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
When Big Finance Meets Big Wind: How Bank-Sponsored Boats Shape SailGP
The overall winner of Sail GP NYC '25 was team Spain, sponsored by the Spanish bank Santander. Their ... More driver, Diego Botín, is a direct descendant of the bank's founder. New York City's waterfront isn't just a postcard-perfect backdrop for foiling catamarans. It is also a growing arena for business. SailGP returned to the New York Harbor this past weekend, and this season it is not only supercharged by strong winds, it is powered by major financial players. In the high-stakes world of elite sailing, banks have moved from backseat sponsors to visible team partners, aligning capital and results in ways that are rapidly transforming the sport and its commercial appeal. Launched in 2018 with backing from Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts, SailGP set out to emulate Formula 1 on water. From the outset, the goal was clear: to build a market-driven league where teams are commercially viable and independently operated. Initially, all teams were owned by SailGP. Today, several are independently owned, and bank sponsorship has become integral to their success. The Spanish SailGP Team is backed by Santander Private Banking, part of the 14th largest bank in the world. They say this partnership reflects their focus on innovation, technology, and international visibility. The Germany SailGP Team secured a three-year partnership with Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. They are linking this investment into themes of sustainability, client engagement, and ocean conservation. Team USA is sponsored by the fintech Apex, a platform used by financial institutions to manage their operations. These boats now double as hospitality platforms for high-value clients and prospects. Waterfront viewing decks, private on-board experiences, and exclusive networking events replace traditional stadium boxes. The German SailGP team is sponsored by Deutsche Bank. The financial impact of sponsorships is tangible. The U.S. team is currently raising new funding at a $125 pre-million valuation, nearly doubling from its previous round just 18 months ago. The rise in valuation is tied to the strength of its commercial partnerships, which now also include major brands like Amazon and Tommy Hilfiger. The league has also expanded significantly, growing from six national teams in 2018 to twelve today. The number of live events has increased from five in 2019 to fourteen this year. As such, SailGP's reach continues to grow, with global viewership exceeding 200 million and U.S. audience numbers rising sharply. In New York, in-person attendance doubled from 5,000 last year to 10,000 this year. Earlier in the season, the race in Auckland, New Zealand, set a new record with 40,000 spectators watching live. That reach enhances the value proposition for financial sponsors looking for differentiated ways to connect with clients and reinforce their brand values. Team USA is sponsored by the fintech firm Apex, a platform used by financial institutions to manage ... More their operations. Bank sponsors are also using SailGP to showcase environmental leadership. Deutsche Bank's involvement supports its blue economy strategy. SailGP runs an internal competition, the Impact League, which scores teams based on sustainability metrics. This structure offers sponsors a tangible link to environmental action, turning sailing into a narrative about responsible growth and innovation. With rising regulatory pressure and investor demand for ESG accountability, bank involvement in SailGP provides a compelling platform to demonstrate progress on sustainability goals. For more like this on Forbes, check out The Legacy Banks Quietly Building The Future Of Finance and The 3 Innovation Challenges Keeping Bank CEOs Awake At Night.
New York Times
09-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Spain wins New York Sail Grand Prix, becomes first repeat winner of SailGP season
NEW YORK — After a shaky start to its SailGP season, a Spanish victory at the New York Sail Grand Prix on Sunday shows that Diego Botín's team is fully back on track. Botín's group won the last event in San Francisco back in March, making them the first repeat winners of 2025 after there were five different winners in the first five events. Advertisement While the cheer from the crowd on Governor's Island was certainly loud for the jubilant Spanish, it had been just as big for the winners of the opening race of Sunday's session, when Brazil crossed the finish in first place. As the first and currently only female driver in SailGP, two-time Olympic gold medalist Martine Grael made history as she steered her hydrofoiling F50 to the race win. Nor was that moment of Brazilian brilliance a flash in the pan. After three soggy races in light winds on Saturday, three more fleet races for the 12-boat competition offered plenty of opportunity for moving up or down the leaderboard. The weather conditions were a vast improvement on Sunday, with sunshine and improved breezes making for consistent foiling around the course. Not that the New York race is ever straightforward, with strong currents and the close proximity of the imposing Manhattan skyline always influencing the wildly dancing wind direction. After winning the first race of the afternoon, Brazil followed up with a solid fourth. This put Grael on the verge of the three-boat final, which would have been another first for a female driver. Meanwhile, Quentin Delapierre and the French team had been quietly chipping away with some decent, if unspectacular, scores across the weekend. This time, the French seized the initiative at the start and won the race, giving them a strong points edge and a smooth path into the final three. NO WORDS 🤩 🤩 🤩 — SailGP (@SailGP) June 8, 2025 The fight for the other two places was a three-way battle between New Zealand, Brazil and Spain. Pete Burling executed a good start and took the Kiwis into the final with a fourth-place finish. Australia won the race, making Tom Slingsby's team the only crew to win two heats across this weekend. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for the Aussies. Advertisement 'Yeah, two wins, and two last places in some other races, so they cancel each other out,' he told The Athletic disconsolately, scratching his head as to why his usually reliable team had fallen off its game in New York and slumped to fifth place. It was a weekend to forget for some of the other leading lights from earlier in the season, with Canada and Great Britain finishing tied on points and ending up seventh and eighth, respectively. Having raced so cleanly throughout the weekend, Spain got itself into trouble in the early stages of the sixth fleet race, starting poorly and compounding its woes with a penalty after fouling Brazil on the first lap. Botín was on the ropes. But he split away from Grael on the final upwind leg to hook into stronger wind on the Brooklyn side of the course, surging past Brazil to seize the third spot into the final. Botín admitted to The Athletic that the close tussle with Brazil was exactly the shot of adrenaline his team needed to get in the right mindset for the three-boat showdown against France and New Zealand. 'For that final race, you just go all in, you go for the win,' he said. 'We started the day really well, and we thought maybe we were in the final a bit too easy, which put us into a defensive mode, which was not helping at all. Then in the second race, we hit something hard under the water, maybe a tree or something, so that made us lose a lot of places. And in that last race, we didn't have a good start and we had to fight back quite hard. That also gave us a push to just fight as hard as we could and it got us a good momentum for the final.' In the final, Spain dominated the approach to the start, launching into an early lead ahead of New Zealand. France misjudged its run-in to the line and was never a threat for the win. When the Kiwis momentarily fell off their foils at the bottom of the course near the Statue of Liberty, Spain's lead became unassailable. Botín's crew started the celebrations well before it crossed the finish line in front of the New York crowd. Advertisement 'Two wins in a row is super hard in SailGP,' grinned Botín, 'so we are super grateful for having done this. Six events done and six events still to go, so everything is to play for this season.' SailGP resumes in mid-July at Portsmouth in southern England. This is the first of five events in Europe before the grand final in Abu Dhabi at the end of November. (Photo of Spain celebrating in New York: Ricardo Pinto / SailGP)
New York Times
07-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Spain leads New Zealand at New York Sail Grand Prix after sparing winds, rainy first day
NEW YORK — Spain leads at the halfway stage of the New York Sail Grand Prix after three wacky races in rain, strong currents and fickle light winds. While New Zealand scored the biggest bragging points of the day by lapping the fleet in the last race, Pete Burling's team would happily have traded that outrageous moment of Kiwi glory for the more consistent performance displayed by Diego Botín and the Spaniards. Your @emirates Frequent Flier on Day 1 of the #NewYorkSGP was @sailgpnzl 🇳🇿#SailGP — SailGP (@SailGP) June 7, 2025 The wind was in short supply on the Hudson River, so the race committee instructed each of the 12 teams to slash the standard crew of six to three for race one, although this would later be increased to four crew for races two and three. Fewer crew on board meant a lighter all-up weight and a better prospect of hydrofoiling for the fleet of identical F50s, but also required much higher levels of multitasking for those left manning the ship. Advertisement Nailing a fast launch out of the start was more critical than ever in the marginal foiling conditions. Botín's crew propelled the Spanish boat out of the start of the first race and into an early lead at mark one, which they would extend to the finish. Even more impressive was the Spanish team's ability to weave a path through the traffic after some lackluster starts to races two and three. Saturday scores of 1,4,3 give the Spanish a healthy five-point buffer over the best of the rest, who are more closely bunched. 'I don't know what we did so well today, to be honest,' said Botín. 'It was so hectic out there. These boats are so complicated to sail, and if you add the conditions we had today with puffiness and the waves from the strong current, it was all super tricky.' In second place are the Danish, with the French on equal points in third, a point ahead of fourth-placed New Zealand, who somehow emerged mostly unscathed from a highly inconsistent day. The Kiwis finished second from last in the middle race, only to rebound with a resounding victory in the third race of the afternoon. Burling's crew burst into an early lead and managed to keep their F50 on the foils while a good chunk of the fleet was virtually becalmed in their wake. Most of the fleet were still drifting toward the bottom of the course, unable to get flying, while Burling managed to maintain his delicate momentum on the foils to come fizzing past his hapless rivals and fully lap the whole fleet. This is the first time anyone has achieved this feat in five seasons of SailGP. After today's drizzly drift-off, all 12 teams hope that a better forecast of brighter skies and stronger breeze for Sunday will provide a faster and more predictable race track for the conclusion of competition in New York.
