SailGP: New Zealand claim fifth-place finish after mixed weekend in Denmark

The New Zealand SailGP team finished fifth in Denmark. Photo: Supplied / New Zealand SailGP team

Chalk the Denmark leg of the SailGP season up as a learning experience for the New Zealand crew.

The Kiwis came away fifth overall from the stop in Aarhus, and experienced almost everything possible other than a capsize on their travels, including racing at both high speeds and snail's pace, as well as an on-water collision.

The collision came on the first of two race days, in the third race of five held over the weekend, when the French boat hit that of the Kiwis. While there was a little scuff, no repairs were necessary on the New Zealand boat and they were able to line up for the final two races on Saturday night.

.@sailgpfra was awarded 4⃣ penalty points for this collision with NZL, but do you think it was justified for NZL to receive 2⃣ penalty points? 🤔#SailGP #PoweredByNature pic.twitter.com/Ga9DLVWrsg

— New Zealand SailGP Team (@SailGPNZL) August 21, 2021

Although the French boat was ruled to have been in the wrong and were docked four points, the race umpire also took two points from the Kiwis as it was ruled they could have done more to avoid the contact.

That left the New Zealanders with work to do if they were to take part in the podium race, but little wind to work with in the fourth race of the weekend. Because of the light winds, the second day of racing saw the 'three-up' rule implemented, which sees the crews sail with just three members on board opposed to the usual five.

It was the first time racing three-up for Kiwi helmsman Peter Burling, who was in Olympic Games preparations the only other time the rule was in play during competitive racing – during the Taranto leg in Italy.

The Kiwis made a great start to the fourth race, being the second boat off the starting line and although they were momentarily able to get up on their foils, they were soon undone by the conditions. Unable to find any wind of substance, the New Zealanders fell off the pace by the midway point and were ultimately one of a number of crews who did not finish the race before it was terminated at the 15-minute mark.

It was almost a reversal in the fifth and final race of the weekend, as the Kiwis had a horror start when they and Great Britain found themselves squeezed out of the starting box by the Denmark boat and had to turn around before crossing the starting line.

Despite their competitors getting a lengthy headstart on them, the New Zealand boat flew up the course, finishing the race in third place.

"Today was difficult, we had to go into a configuration where we only sailed the boat with three people," wing trimmer Blair Tuke said.

"We lost grinders Josh [Junior] and Louis [Sinclair] off the boat so that was challenging for Andy, Pete and I because we hadn't actually sailed with that configuration before.

"The other teams over the previous events we haven't been at [Italy and Great Britain] have sailed in that configuration before but it was a new one for us so with limited practice time before the start today we found it difficult, but we still would have expected a bit more from ourselves in that first race."

Ending the weekend in fifth place sees them move off the foot of the ladder in the overall season standings. They now sit seventh of the eight teams, with 23 points from four events.

Australia leads the way with 32 points, ahead of Great Britain on 30 and Japan on 28, heading into the next stop of the series in France next month.