SailGP Sydney: Blair Tuke expects tough review after NZ SailGP Team’s costly error

When the New Zealand SailGP Team reviews the footage of Sunday’s event final in Sydney, wing trimmer Blair Tuke expects it will be uncomfortable viewing.

On paper, their third-place finish in the regatta looks good. It saw them pick up more valuable points and further stake their claim to a place in the US$2 million winner-takes-all grand final race in San Francisco in July.

But the fact they finished third and not higher was a point of frustration from the team, who set themselves up for a strong start, only to cross the line slightly early and get hit with an on course side (OCS) penalty. That required them to fall to the back of the fleet at which point they had all but lost the race.

“It was really solid to get another podium. Especially with Nathan [Outteridge] filling in for [helmsman] Pete [Burling], I thought the whole team did an exceptional job to do their areas well and make it easy for Nathan stepping in, and Nathan did a really good job,” Tuke told the Herald.

“From that point of view, the third place is a good one for us this season, but letting that start slip was disappointing. We put ourselves in a great position ... and the final trigger pull, the execution of that let us down. We haven’t watched it yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be a tough one.”

After crossing the starting line early, they then made the decision to bear away quickly to avoid getting in the path of the Australians - only to then find out that they too were too eager to get onto the race course.

Tuke confirmed that at the time they made the move, they weren’t aware Australia had also picked up an OCS penalty.

“That didn’t come through to us [until] some seconds afterwards and by that stage we had already born away and given them the space. If we were the only ones OCS, we didn’t want to interfere with them and get another penalty.

“I think how we dealt with that whole situation, from the moment we were over the line to clearing [the penalty], we need to review because we certainly didn’t need to end up in third place out of it.”

Australia recovered faster than New Zealand after having to let Denmark through, and the New Zealand crew were left sailing in dirty air for much of the race and hoping for one of the other teams to make a mistake.

That didn’t happen, though Tom Slingsby and the Australian team sailed a superb race after their terrible start to claim their first event win of the season and extend their lead atop the season standings.

The Australians now hold an eight-point advantage over the Kiwis in the race to the grand final.

It was a tough way to end a solid weekend of racing from the New Zealand crew, who were unfazed by a return to sailing in decent breeze after a couple of light-air events in the last two regattas.

“On the whole, the event was a real confidence boost for the team,” Tuke said. “To have someone new coming into the team, having very little training time as a unit on this boat, the way everyone performed was exceptional really.

“I’m really proud of the group and I think it shows a lot of the work that goes on behind and in between events, the process that we’ve got in place, to have your driving missing ... it’s tough for us, but to still get a third place out of it is a huge credit to the whole team.”

The league will now turn its attention to its second event in New Zealand with the fleet headed to race on Lyttelton Harbour on the weekend of March 23.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.