Consistent Kiwis second after tough day
New Zealand finished second overall after day one at the SailGP in Halifax, Canada, yesterday.
The New Zealand boat called Black Foils, driven by Peter Burling, managed consistency when their closest rivals Australia and Spain didn’t, putting them in the top two and only one point off the lead ahead of the second and final day's racing.
Burling said while it wasn't a perfect day, he was happy with New Zealand's overall position. In the opening race the team pulled off a stellar comeback coming from last on leg five, to claw back a fifth-place finish.
“In the first half of the first race we were really struggling to find our feet and we made a few mistakes,'' Burling said. "It was good to get back into it by the end and put together a couple of solid ones to finish.
“It felt like we left a whole heap of points out there, but it was nice to get off the start line reasonably well. Coming out of today we’re really happy that we put together three solid scores to be at the right end of the leaderboard.”
The Kiwis pulled off three top-five finishes with a fifth, second and fourth in gusty conditions on the tight inner-city course.
“It was puffy and shifty, and very hard to find the stability to execute manoeuvres,'' Burling added. "We had some good ones and some shockers. It was one of those days where you needed to be in the pressure and go as fast as you could through the lulls.
“We’re here to try and win for sure. You can’t win it on day one, but you can lose it on the first day.”
All 10 F50s came away unscathed, but the leaderboard shows it was a tough day for the strategists and no one got it right all the time.
Giles Scott was the winner with Great Britain top of the standings after three races. The top three teams will compete in the winner-takes-all final.
After 10 events New Zealand lead the overall standings.
Pressure weighs heavily on the entire fleet in the final push to the winner-takes-all $2 million Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco on July 13-14