If you missed the F50s ripping past the Halifax waterfront in June, your next shot starts Friday. Presale tickets for the 2027 Canada Sail Grand Prix, set for May 15 and 16 on Halifax Harbour, open at 10 a.m. on Oct. 16.
SailGP sent out a reminder Wednesday telling fans to set an alarm. Presale codes go out by email on Friday morning to people signed up for SailGP+, and the league says tickets are limited.
That warning has some history behind it. When Halifax hosted its first Canada Sail Grand Prix in 2024, tickets sold out in about 12 minutes, the fastest sell-out in SailGP history.
How are you feeling right now?
Drag the emoji to where you're at today.
Somewhere in the middle — and that's okay.
The SailGP+ presale runs from Friday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. to Monday, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m., and signing up for SailGP+ is free. Tickets then go to the general public. Groups of 25 or more can register for group and corporate rates.
Viewing options include the Waterfront Grandstand, boardwalk seating among the Drunken Lampposts sculpture, the VELA Beach Club hospitality area, and a Bring Your Own Boat option for watching from the water, which goes on sale in spring 2027.
There’s one big change for spectators. SailGP is dropping Georges Island as a ticketed viewing area and focusing on the Halifax shoreline instead.
Racing is scheduled from 4 to 5:30 p.m. both days, with the Race Stadium open from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. There’s no official event parking, so SailGP is asking people to take transit. Kids under five get in free if they sit on an adult’s lap in the grandstand.
Next year’s race comes a month earlier than this year’s June event. It’s one of 13 stops on the 2027 Rolex SailGP Championship, and the home crowd will again be cheering for Canada’s NorthStar team.
The league is coming back on the strength of a good report card. SailGP says June’s race weekend generated an estimated $64.7 million in economic impact for Halifax, based on an assessment it commissioned from Deloitte. That’s nearly four per cent more than the 2024 debut.
Most of the growth came from out of town. SailGP says non-local attendance rose 31 per cent over 2024, and 55 per cent of this year’s crowd travelled from outside Halifax, filling hotels, restaurants and shops.
About 12,000 people held tickets for the June 20 and 21 races, with thousands more watching for free from the boardwalks, patios and the Dartmouth side. Spain won the Halifax event in a wind-bent final.
Some of the money arrived before race day. Three F50 catamarans damaged in a crash in New York were rebuilt at East River Shipyard in Nova Scotia, where a SailGP crew and five local experts put in nearly 3,500 hours of work.
Ottawa has put money in too. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency gave Sail Nova Scotia $500,000 to host the 2026 race, according to federal grants records.
