For most athletes, racing at home brings expectation. For Martine Grael, it brings the weight of a nation's hopes.
The latest episode of Racing on the Edge, titled This Is Us, follows the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team driver as SailGP arrives in South America for the first time, charting the emotional highs and crushing setbacks of a landmark weekend in Rio de Janeiro.
Watch the latest episode of Racing on the Edge HERE.
A double Olympic champion and one of Brazil's most decorated sailors, Grael entered SailGP history last season as the first woman to win a fleet race. But the episode reveals a more complicated story behind the headlines.
After ending 2025 with momentum and breakthrough victories in New York and Cádiz, Brazil's progress was interrupted when key crew members departed for rivals Artemis SailGP Team ahead of the 2026 season. The result was a difficult rebuild and a winless start to the campaign.
"Sometimes teams have to write off an entire season," SailGP reporter Lisa Darmanin explains as the episode explores the challenge of rebuilding one of SailGP's youngest teams.
The arrival of SailGP in Rio was supposed to be Brazil's turning point. Instead, disaster struck before racing had even begun.
With thousands of fans packed around Guanabara Bay for the league's South American debut, a critical communications failure left the Brazilian F50 stranded at the dock. Unable to transmit the GPS data required for race management and umpiring systems, the team was forced to watch as the opening races began without them.
"It was the worst possible scenario," recalls team CEO Alan Adler, who had played a key role in bringing both SailGP and Formula 1 events to Brazil.
As shore crews scrambled to repair the boat, cameras captured an anxious Grael balancing disappointment with determination. Adding to the pressure was the presence of her father, sailing legend Torben Grael, who had travelled to Rio to experience an F50 firsthand as SailGP's sixth sailor guest.
The episode's emotional core lies in the relationship between father and daughter. Grael reflects on growing up in the shadow of one of sailing's greatest careers, while insisting she never set out to replicate his achievements.
"I never aimed to do all his accomplishments," she says. Instead, she credits her father for quietly supporting her ambitions while allowing her to forge her own path.
After what felt like hours of repairs, the breakthrough finally arrived.
A successful radio check triggered celebrations around the venue as the home team at last headed for the racecourse. Fans who had waited all day erupted as Brazil joined the fleet for Race 3.
The results themselves mattered little.
What emerged was a portrait of a nation embracing SailGP for the first time. From packed grandstands to samba-fuelled celebrations, the episode argues that Brazil's greatest victory in Rio was not on the leaderboard but in connecting a new audience with the sport.
"They're making this nation discover a new sport," Darmanin says as the Brazilian boat finally takes flight in front of its home crowd.
The episode closes with Grael steering the F50 past cheering spectators after racing, soaking in a moment years in the making.
For a team still searching for results, Rio delivered something equally valuable: belief. And for Grael, it provided a reminder that sometimes the biggest victories are measured not in points, but in the people inspired along the way.
Watch the latest episode of Racing on the Edge HERE.
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