Black Foils enter uncharted SailGP territory

By Christopher Reive

The Black Foils are in uncharted territory.

For the first time in SailGP history, the fleet will contest their second regatta in as many weeks when they take compete in San Francisco this weekend.

For the last three campaigns, San Francisco has been the site of its grand final. That has changed this year, with the regatta in the City by the Bay an early-season contest and the campaign’s crescendo moved to Abu Dhabi later in the year.

That said, there has been a lot to consider for New Zealand’s Black Foils – particularly given it’s a location they have struggled at since joining the league in season two.

“It’s certainly not been our favourite place to race from a results point of view,” Black Foils wing trimmer Blair Tuke told the Herald.

“We’ve talked about it leading into this week, too. We’re not trying to shy away from the fact that we haven’t performed to the level we would have liked here, so we’re pretty motivated to try and turn that around, to be completely honest.

“It’s exciting. It’s a great place to sail. The wind’s good and it’s a good open racetrack; you could call it a sailor’s racetrack, where you get to let the boats rip a bit. You can get on one tack or gybe for 30 seconds or a minute, which is a long time for SailGP.”

The Black Foils come into the event off the back of a strong showing in Los Angeles last weekend, where they finished second to NorthStar Canada.

The New Zealanders went into the three-boat podium race as the team to beat after strong starts set them up for strong results, but made a few mistakes during the final.

While the team are quick to admit they should have won the final from the position they were in, it was a step in the right direction after some disappointing outings in Auckland and Sydney.

“Obviously we would have liked to have been first across the line, and after that good start and first leg, we should have been, in all honesty. But the reality is, at this stage as a group, we’re still not sailing to the level we should.

“We normally sail well in the light conditions and pride ourselves on being one of the best teams when it’s marginal foiling conditions and getting the boat ripping.

“To not finish that race off was disappointing, but on the whole it was a big step forward in a lot of areas from Auckland and Sydney, so we’re really pleased with that effort and, as we head into San Fran now, the team’s in good shape.”

Usually, SailGP has several weeks between events, which allows the teams to go through the data and highlight areas they need to improve on before putting that all into practice when they get back on their boats.

But having access to their boats two weeks in a row, it is expected the execution across the fleet will lift, however, it means much less time for the teams to assess their performance last time out.

“It’s certainly new for everyone. We’re certainly enjoying it, but the challenge with this league is how you prepare and then race when you haven’t raced for a month,” Tuke explained.

“That’s always something we pride ourselves on doing; trying to out-prepare our opposition and perform even if we don’t get the practice day, which sometimes happens too.

“You can feel better in yourself, your preparation, but you’ve got to make sure that’s all relative to where your opposition are at. Of course, everyone will be sailing the boat at a better level this weekend given the fact that we’ve just raced last weekend and all the muscle memory and the timing between people on the boat will be at a higher level.

“We’ve just got to make sure as a unit we prep for the San Fran conditions now.”

The regatta will only be an 11-team affair, with Denmark ruled out due to damage to their F50. The Danes ran into a marker early in the LA regatta, and the damage could not be repaired with such a short turnaround.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission