Double Olympic medallist Iain Jensen is returning to the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team for the 2025 Season as Wing Trimmer, a role he has had on-board the British team’s F50 since Season 2. The 36-year-old, who has also competed in four America’s Cup campaigns, has the pivotal role of controlling the F50’s wing to accelerate and decelerate the race boat. Jensen is one of the League’s most knowledgeable and experienced Wing Trimmers, having been in the role since SailGP’s inception, with Japan for one season and Emirates GBR for three. He will get back into the Wing Trimmer seat at the first event of SailGP’s fifth season, the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas on 23-24 November.
Known as Goobs to the team, Jensen joins fellow Australian Luke Parkinson and Scotland’s Neil Hunter as the third crew member to be announced by Emirates GBR. Jensen and Parkinson are considered a dynamic duo, with the pair sailing together in the Wing Trimmer and Flight Controller positions for almost 10 years.
Jensen said: “I’m buzzing to be back on-board with Emirates GBR for the new season, we are sailing the coolest boats in the world and the fleet keeps getting stronger. We have the inclusion of Brazil and Italy this season which is exciting and there will be more events on the calendar. We will have a really strong team this season and hopefully it will be our best yet. The fleet is moving to T-Foils which are targeted to have a higher top speed so we will be ripping around on them. It will definitely be a learning curve with the T-Foils but hopefully we can bring a bit of knowledge from what we’ve experienced in the last few years with the America’s Cup campaign and maybe get a bit of a head start there.”
© Felix Diemer for SailGP
Felix Diemer for SailGP
Iain ‘Goobs’ Jensen started sailing in his hometown of Wangi Wangi, Australia, when he was five years old. At the age of 16, he represented Australia for the first time, winning the double-handed 420 Youth World Championships. In 2009 he won the 49er World Championships in Lake Garda, Italy, and two years later claimed his second 49er World Champion title in Perth, Australia.
In 2012, he won an Olympic gold medal at the London Games and went on to win a second Olympic medal – silver – at Rio 2016. Jensen campaigned as Wing Trimmer with Artemis Racing for two America’s Cups; in 2013 for the 34th in San Francisco and in 2017 for the 35th in Bermuda, where the team were knocked out at the Playoff Finals by AC35 winners, Emirates Team New Zealand. In 2019 he joined the Japan SailGP Team for the League’s first-ever Season, before then moving to Sir Ben Ainslie’s British team for Season 2. Jensen also joined the British Team for the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland, where he worked closely with the engineers and designers, helping to design the systems and development for the soft sails. Iain rejoined INEOS Britannia for his 4th America’s Cup, and second consecutive campaign with the British Challenger.
© Felix Diemer for SailGP
Felix Diemer for SailGP
Emirates GBR will be announcing the rest of its crew in the build-up to the start of the new season, which will be the league’s most expansive to date, unfolding over a 12-month period across five continents. The 2025 Season will feature new events in Brazil, Germany, Switzerland and Auckland, as well as a return to Great Britain on 19-20 July.