The sun returned on Saturday, just in time for the first of two days of intense final competition among the world’s top Sail Grand Prix — SailGP — teams facing each other in the Port of Los Angeles Outer Harbor in San Pedro.

While there was no rain, the temperatures were unseasonably cool as 12 teams battled it out on the water with hydrofoil catamarans skipping through, on top of, and over the water at speeds of up to 60 mph. It was “lake-like” conditions on the LA harbor course off the southern coastline, said one announcer.

The weekend races in San Pedro were sold out after hitting full capacity — nearly 6,000 — of onsite spectators. But the races are also being streamed on YouTube. Nearly 8,000 tuned in to watch Saturday’s races remotely.

The Rolex Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix event this weekend is the fourth event in the sport’s 2025 season and featured the U.S. SailGP team defending its home waters. Competitors represented Australia, Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand, Denmark, Switzerland, Canada, France, Brazil, Italy, Spain, and the United States.

Throughout the day’s races, nimble crew members scrambled on deck, dashing back and forth, from side to side on the vessels to even out the onboard weight as the teams navigated extreme turns and course corrections, all prone to causing a potential capsizing incident.

There were close calls as vessels had to “thread the needle” between other competitors on tight turns that brought near misses with 25-knot winds. Kelp frequently slowed some boats when the seaweed got caught on vessel undersides. Denmark hit a floating marker in the Saturday’s first competition taking that boat out for the remaining races of the, but it is expected to return for competition on Sunday.

The key advice offered by various crew members on the competing vessels during various broadcast interviews:  “keeping fast and keeping clear,” “finding space,” “finding a clear wind with no boats ahead for a nice lane” — and avoiding seaweed or hitting anything, of course.

Saturday’s race winners in each of the four competitions:

• New Zealand, Spain and Canada came in as top placers in the first race.
• New Zealand, Canada, and Australia took the lead in the second round.
• Australia, Brazil, and France led the third round.
• France, New Zealand, and Australia led in the fourth race.

The U.S. team came in 7th in the first race, 8th in the second, and 5th in the third and fourth races.

Additional races take place on Sunday.

Overall point rankings at the end of Saturday’s events stood at: New Zealand (1st), Canada (2nd), and Australia (3rd) — with the U.S. in seventh place.

The Port of L.A. course is one of the tightest and smallest on the sport’s calendar this season and has also competed to host sailing events at the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics (though it appears that the Long Beach coastline has nailed that hosting designation).

The tight quarters didn’t go unnoticed by competitors. “It’s tough going on such a tight race track,” one crew member commented on a quick broadcast interview.

The 12 teams registered — the first time all of them have gone up against each other this year for what is formally the sport’s fifth season — began gathering at the starting line shortly after 1 p.m. This was the fourth event of this season (there are 13 events overall to determine the top three winners of the season) and the next stop will be San Francisco.

In the nearby outdoor stands, fans cheered and watched the drama as it unfolded. A second day of finals takes place at the same L.A. Port Outer Harbor location from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, March 16.

Races 5 and 6 — the first races on Sunday — will include all competitors while the last race that day (7), will pit the top three against one another before the overall global competition moves on to Northern California.

The Port of L.A. event caught a break in the weather by as the heavy rains of the past few days had finally moved on. Temperatures topped out at around 60 degrees but were likely cooler on the water and at the coast.

The sport, formally founded in 2018, came to the Port of L.A. in July 2023 (toward the the sport’s end of that season) and now has returned for the earlier part of the 2025 season. There was some early competition among prospective hosts for the event this year as Long Beach challenged San Pedro for the 2025 Southern California honors.  Races are booked throughout the world during the several-month rollout of each season.

The aim of SailGP, founders have said, was to establish a commercially viable, fast-paced, global sailing race series that would grow and sustain a large audience.

Contributing to this report was correspondent Jo Murray