SSL Team TAH – By Sailors for Sailors

THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP... IN SAILING

AFRICAN AND OCEANIAN QUALIFIERS | 2-4 June 2026 | Grandson, Switzerland

FINALS | 15 Nov - 13 Dec 2026 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Events

Upcoming

AFRICAN & OCEANIAN QUALIFIERS

G1 - Race 1

11:00

02 June 2026

SWITZERLAND

Participants

MOZ

MAR

SEY

TAH

Results

Upcoming

AFRICAN & OCEANIAN QUALIFIERS

G1 - Race 2

12:30

02 June 2026

SWITZERLAND

Participants

MOZ

MAR

SEY

TAH

Results

Upcoming

AFRICAN & OCEANIAN QUALIFIERS

G1 - Race 3

11:00

03 June 2026

SWITZERLAND

Participants

MOZ

MAR

SEY

TAH

Results

Upcoming

AFRICAN & OCEANIAN QUALIFIERS

G1 - Race 4

12:30

03 June 2026

SWITZERLAND

Participants

MOZ

MAR

SEY

TAH

Results

Upcoming

AFRICAN & OCEANIAN QUALIFIERS

G1 - Race 5

11:00

04 June 2026

SWITZERLAND

Participants

MOZ

MAR

SEY

TAH

Results

Upcoming

AFRICAN & OCEANIAN QUALIFIERS

G1 - Race 6

12:30

04 June 2026

SWITZERLAND

Participants

MOZ

MAR

SEY

TAH

Results

See All Races

News

The Football World Cup in Sailing Enters Its Next Phase

Sailing is moving deeper into its “world championship” phase, modelled on the idea of a football World Cup. With 197 days left until the Grand Final of the second SSL…

DateYesterday at 15:40

The SSL Team Tahiti is ready for the qualifiers

The atmosphere is heating up as we are just a few weeks away from the second stage of the SSL Gold Cup qualifiers. The SSL Team Tahiti is ready to…

DateTuesday at 12:04

The Countdown Is On: Road to the SSL Gold Cup

30 days until the second qualification round in Grandson, Switzerland, and 200 days until the SSL Gold Cup in Rio, Brazil! The countdown to the 2nd Football World Cup in…

DateSunday at 11:13

The Black Pearls

Their playground is the Pacific Ocean

Proudly Polynesian, fiercely Oceanian

Located in the middle of South Pacific Ocean, Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia. Since Tahitian Sailing Federation split from France’s in the 1980s, a handful of local sailors reached Sailing highest level including World Champion Billy Besson and Team Tahiti skipper Teva Plichart, 2007 European Match-Racing champion and Areva’s wincher at the Louis-Vuitton Challengers. In 2017, team “Treasures of Tahiti” finished 2nd of Tour de France à la Voile. Pitman Manutea Mahai, a young local fisherman, was part of this unorthodox crew nicknamed “the Tahitian Rastarockets” after the 1990s blockbuster by the French press. The SSL Team Tahiti will be a reset of this fantastic project that mixed Tahitian pro with local young amateur sailors. Their objective is to surprise European best teams as perfect underdogs. Tahitians are never as good as when they get together to show the rest of the World their sailing skills.

Statistics

THE COUNTRY

20000 nautical fans
2500 sailors
7 sailing clubs
5,000,000 km2 of maritime territory

ACHIEVEMENTS

7 World Champions
2 Podiums on Tour de France à la voile
30 Pacific Games Champions

Ssl ranking

SSL best ranked woman: 2250 Amandine Jacobe de Haut de Sigy
SSL best ranked man: 5435 Teva Plichart
SSL Nation's best ranking:38

MAIN EVENTS

Tahiti Pearl Regatta > 100 participants (2019)
Grand Prix Pacifique des Jeux > 40 participants (2018)

Despite its small population (220,000 inhabitants), four Tahitians have become World Champions in their category including Billy Besson in Nacra17.

The captain

Teva Plichart

After racing in Hobie Cat in Tahiti, Teva joined the French national Match-Racing Youth team. He then raced as professional with Paolo Cian winning European Championship in 2006. In 2007, he skipped “Tahiti et ses Îles” on Tour de France à la Voile reaching 2nd place. He renewed the result 10 years later with “Treasures of Tahiti”. From 2016 until 2019, he sailed on Yliam Comptoir Immobilier winning the famous 2021 Bol d’Or.

THE LEADERS

Yann Rigal
Match-racing specialist, Yann was with Teva Plichart on Tour de France à la voile in 2007. He now lives in New Caledonia and had the opportunity to race at the Sydney Hobart.

Manutea Mahai
He learned sailing only in 2015 but Manutea became a legend in his country when he reached 2nd place at the Tour de France à la voile 2017 and won the local Tahiti Pearl Regatta 2016. With his short but consistent record, he is a reference in the team.

THE YOUTH FACTOR

Surrounded by the Pacific, Tahiti is the perfect playground for young sailors. The Tahiti Elite Voile program has trained 5 professional sailors, including two local fishermen: Manutea Mahai and his cousin Teahio Mahai. These two talents were part of the Tour Voile 2017 adventure. They will be joined by Tom Lamotte, a promising young Polynesian sailing on France’s Youth Nacra15 team.

Confirmed Athletes

Captain | 10

Bow | 1

Mid Bow | 2

TBC | TBC

Grinder | 4

Main Trimmer | 7

Tactician | 9

Potential Team Position

1 BOW Yann Rigal	2 MID-BOW Heiniti Maiarii
3 PIT Manutea Mahai	4 GRINDER Teriimana Degage
5 TRIMMER Hervé Cunningham	6 TRIMMER Moana HUGONOT
7 MAIN TRIMMER Tom Lamotte	8 HELMS Teva Plichart
9 TACTICIAN Teiki Hacheche	10 CAPTAIN Teva Plichart
11 FLOATER Vaimiti RIGAL

BOW

Yann Rigal

MID-BOW

Heiniti Maiarii

PIT

Manutea Mahai

GRINDER

Teriimana Degage

TRIMMER

Hervé Cunningham

TRIMMER

Moana HUGONOT

MAIN TRIMMER

Tom Lamotte

HELMS

Teva Plichart

TACTICIAN

Teiki Hacheche

CAPTAIN

Teva Plichart

FLOATER

Vaimiti RIGAL

SQUAD

Teva Plichart	Yann Rigal
Manutea Mahai	Hervé Cunningham
Teriimana Degage	Tom Lamotte
Teiki Hacheche	Heiniti Maiarii
Moana HUGONOT	Swann HIRLEMANN
Maireraurea TETOHU	Manoarii PLICHART
Vaimiti RIGAL	Maiti RiGAL