SailGP Switzerland: Poor race proves costly as Black Foils settle for fifth on Lake Geneva
After the opening day of racing in SailGP’s regatta on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Black Foils winger trimmer Blair Tuke stressed the importance of every point.
With the league moving to split fleet racing and having fewer points on offer as a result, one bad race can be damning to a team’s hopes of making the event final.
Unfortunately, the New Zealand crew became the latest example of exactly that in Switzerland.
The Black Foils missed out on a spot in the podium race on Lake Geneva by a single point, finishing behind Australia (17 points) and Switzerland (14 points). The Black Foils were the only team who didn’t score a point in the fourth of their five group races, which left them needing a strong result in the fifth race of the group.
They got it in the form of a second-placed finish. However, they finished behind Switzerland – who finished fifth and picked up the last point available in race four, taking advantage of a Black Foils boundary penalty and getting around the Kiwis at the final turn – which meant the Black Foils were again on the outside looking in when it came to the event final.
Speaking after the event, driver Peter Burling expressed disappointment in a decision by the Swiss early in the day’s first race to tack across them. The Swiss were penalised for the move, but it forced the Kiwis off their foils and they never recovered, before a malfunction on board led to their boundary penalty later in the race.
“It felt like everything that could go wrong went wrong in the first race. But I’m really pleased with the way the team, I suppose because the conditions gave us another chance, managed to bounce back with a really solid one. It just wasn’t quite enough,” Burling said.
“I think we’re really proud of the way we’ve managed to step forward a long way from Valencia and really learn from a lot of the mistakes we had there. We really felt like we were in good shape today.”
Spain won the event, getting past Australia late in the race and making the overtake stick to sail on to the finish line. The Australians crossed the line second, with Denmark taking the last prize money spot in third. Switzerland finished fourth.
Overall, the Black Foils claimed a fifth-place finish in the event and did hit the fastest speed of the day at around 57km/h. However, that will come as little solace for a team who have battled through a testing year on the water.
Perennial contenders in recent years, the Black Foils have not won a regatta in season six. They crashed out early in the first two events of the year, before missing out on four of the season’s 13 events while waiting for their new boat to be built.
Since returning to action in Halifax in late June, the Black Foils have shown glimpses but have largely been unable to turn some good moments into a big event, with just one appearance in an event final, finishing fourth in Sassnitz, Germany, at the end of August.
With just two events left in the season – in Dubai and Abu Dhabi across the last two weeks of November – the Kiwis will look to maximise what is left of the campaign and build towards season seven.
As it stands, they sit 12th on the 13-team leaderboard on 27 points, three behind Italy and nine points outside the top 10.
At the other end of the ladder, Spain’s win in Geneva improves their grasp on second place overall as they move to 78 points for the season.
Australia lead the fleet with 94 points, while the battle for third continues to be a hotly contested one. Sweden hold that spot after Geneva with 59 points, ahead of the United States (56) and Great Britain (53).
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.