How Black Foils will approach winner-take-all finale in San Francisco

By Bonnie Jansen

The Black Foils have well considered their approach for the SailGP final in San Francisco this weekend.

The New Zealand team is the only one to have already secured a spot in the all-or-nothing final race, setting their event apart from the rest.

While a favourable position, with $3.2 million at stake, it brings additional circumstances for the Kiwis to deliberate on.

With five fleet races to get through before that final race, Kiwi wing trimmer Blair Tuke told the Herald that planning for the finale has been tricky.

“It’s about getting that balance right and the mindset right on how you build through those races.

“You don’t want to be just thinking about the final because then you probably won’t race well in the fleet races, and you won’t have much confidence heading into the final.

“Likewise, you don’t want to concentrate just on the fleet racing and then forget what you’re mainly there for.

“So we’ve put a lot of work into that as a team, as to how we’ll balance it and gained some experience from last year doing that,” Tuke said.

They’ll enter San Francisco fresh off a victory in New York late last month on the Hudson River, which marked their fifth win in 12 regattas.

In the West Coast event, two prizes are at stake: the regatta title and the season title. Five fleet races will be held over the two-day spectacle. Unlike the other season regattas, the San Francisco event doesn’t feature a podium race, with the event itself decided on fleet races alone. Instead, the five are followed by the top three teams on the season leaderboard in the grand final shootout.

Since the Black Foils aren’t vying for a grand final spot, Tuke revealed they will use the fleet races to build momentum.

“You play it too safe and you don’t build that confidence, you don’t learn how to push the boat and sail as fast as you can, which is going to help you in the final race.

“In the same breath, you don’t want to push it too far and end up with a collision or something that would hold you back.

“But that aside, we put ourselves in a good position, and our mindset has been to keep building momentum into this final and keep being the team that’s sailing the best.

“Because ultimately, that’s what you have to do, you have to be the best team on [race day].”

Tuke admits New Zealand’s SailGP team is surprised they’ve managed to turn around their season.

In September, they suffered a devastating blow at the French Grand Prix with their wing collapsing.

This equipment malfunction meant they were then unable to compete in the following event in Italy.

The team was awarded fifth place and six event points, as the league lacked spare parts for their equipment.

Reflecting on that rough run, Tuke said the 2023 European summer was a tough time for the team.

“[In Saint-Tropez] we were having a great event, but after that race, we fully collapsed...and missed the next event.

“Four events in, and [our season] was looking quite different than what we thought it was going to be but I think how the team rallied back with a fourth place [in Spain] was not bad.

“We built from there, and we’ve only missed the podium once since then.

“We had a bit of a wobble in Halifax a couple of events ago, but I think it came at a good time for us in the season.

“It’s never nice to have a tough event, but it came at a good time.

“We bounced back really nicely in New York and are set up now for San Francisco...we’re under no illusion about the challenge in front of us, that’s for sure. But I think we’re in a great place.”

Looking to the season’s end, Team New Zealand are confident on the seas ahead.

“I mean, we’re playing with Mother Nature, so you never quite know... [but] we’ve had quite a bit of experience racing on the harbour here in San Francisco.

“It’s an epic place with really good conditions for these foiling boats.

“It’s a great breeze there so we’re looking forward to it.”

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