Black Foils triumph in New York

By Christopher Reive

Mission accomplished for the Black Foils.

Leading into the weekend’s SailGP event in New York, the New Zealand team were looking to get back to winning ways after a couple of disappointing finishes in recent regattas.

With the event being the last one before next month’s season finale in San Francisco, the Black Foils wanted to build some momentum after their impressive season has fallen into a bit of a lull.

They’ll go into San Francisco fresh off an event win on the Hudson River – their fifth win in 12 regattas.

The win means regardless of how the Kiwis go in the actual event in San Francisco, the Black Foils will be one of the three boats contesting the three-boat grand finale with $3.2m for the winner.

The Black Foils were arguably the most consistent performers in New York, qualifying for the three-boat podium race second after finishes of fifth, third, fourth and second in the weekend’s four fleet races.

After the opening day of racing was shortened with just two of the three scheduled fleet races completed due to the breeze dying away, that third race was not factored into Monday’s plans.

That meant the 10 teams contested just four fleet races to decide who would be contesting the podium race, and set the Black Foils up well to make the final as they finished day one third on the ladder.

While they struggled off the starting line in the first race of the weekend, the tactic of attacking the inside of the course to be among the first to get to the first marker proved fruitful.

It worked for them in the weekend’s second race, and that didn’t change in races three, four and the podium race.

In the podium race, the Black Foils shot out to the front of the group as they had the speed to prevent Canada and Great Britain from sneaking around the first marker over the top of them.

That allowed them to control the course and they made good decisions the rest of the way to build a good lead and cruise over the finish line with a comfortable win.

It was their first win of event, while Canada and Great Britain had won during the fleet races and were deserved finalists.

The win sees the Black Foils extend their lead on the season leaderboard again, with the final two spots in the grand finale still up for grabs at the five-race fleet regatta in San Francisco which precedes the grand final shootout in three weeks’ time.

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