By Matt Brown in Copenhagen
The Copenhagen course has claimed a few victims on the eve of the latest Sail GP event, with teams striking ground during warmups in the first look at the Denmark event.
First hosts Denmark went off course in search of more breeze only to strike a shelf estimated to be about three feet deep. The Danes suffered damage to their rudders and board, with the Spanish entry also striking ground in the same area and suffering similar damage.
The New Zealand SailGP team managed to avoid drama but their first practice was a virtual write-off with "Amokura" only managing to get up onto the foils a couple of times in light winds.
"This is the first time we have raced in Copenhagen and there are quite a few obstructions on the race course and unfortunately the Danish, who you would think have some local knowledge but I guess they don't sail here very often in these boats, hit the bottom, and the Spanish, so a bit of damage on their boats unfortunately," New Zealand wing trimmer Blair Tuke said.
The New Zealand team has gone from being the hunter to the hunted ahead of this weekend's fourth round of the foiling Catamaran world series in Copenhagen.
The Kiwis have arrived in the Danish capital jet-lagged but confident after an impressive showing to win the last event in Plymouth last month.
New Zealand won two fleet races, finished second in two and placed fifth to rocket into their first ever final race in Plymouth (between the top three teams) winning it ahead of perennial winners Australia and Denmark.
Peter Burling, Tuke and co had been under immense pressure heading to Plymouth last month, having shown glimpses of their potential during their debut season last year which had been disrupted by the Olympics and regular crew changes, but ultimately, they were let down by a lack of consistency.
That inconsistency continued in the season three opener in Bermuda before calamity in Chicago where the Kiwis were in pole position to qualify for the final race ahead of the last fleet race, only to mess up the start and finish last to miss out.
Coming into Copenhagen, the fourth stop in the 11-round series, New Zealand is third in the standings with 22 points, level on points with Canada and two behind Sir Ben Ainslie's Great Britain, with defending series champions Australia on top with 29.
Wing trimmer Tuke chatted with the Herald to discuss the team's change in fortunes and is adamant they will have to keep making improvements if they are to show last month's victory wasn't a one off.
"We certainly come into this one full of confidence. It was a great win for us, the team's first one but there's a pretty quick turnaround and we have a lot of areas to work on," he said.
"We've certainly been building nicely this whole season and it was great to execute in Plymouth, but, you know, pretty quickly our focus shifts to the next event and, taking the learnings from there. And although it was a pretty dominant performance there were some areas we wanted to work on."
Tuke explained they are still not getting the consistency right across all the areas whether it's the starts, the boat speed, the manoeuvres or decision-making around the course.
"Just getting more clinical and in all those areas and being more consistent across the wind range. We started the best we probably had in SailGP in Plymouth and that certainly helped. But it wasn't just that, we were still sailing the boat well and making good decisions around the course.
"This weekend's going to throw up a few different conditions, I think potentially quite light wind on Friday and then when the wind does come on Saturday it will be quite shifty as it blows off Copenhagen city, so we'll have to adjust to that."
With light winds forecast for the opening day, it's likely the crews will be reduced from six to four sailors, with Liv MacKay moving from the helm assist role on the New Zealand boat to the role of grinder.
However, Tuke says they will be ready for what will be light wind conditions on the first race day.
"It's challenging because obviously you use all six people when you normally sail the boat the most accurately and suddenly you lose two people. So, you have to redistribute the responsibilities. So, for Liv (MacKay) in particular she moves from the helm assist or the strategist role behind Pete and replaces Josh (Junior) grinding. It's quite a big shift for her. And then the rest of us soak up some other responsibilities too."
In a boost ahead of this weekend's racing, SailGP has just released the results of the "Impact League" for Plymouth, with New Zealand topping the standings and becoming the first team to win both the on-water racing and the impact league in the same round.
The Impact League is a second leaderboard that tracks the positive actions teams make to reduce their overall carbon footprint and help accelerate inclusivity in sailing.
"Yeah, that's something we're hugely proud of. Right since we first entered the league, we wanted to be on the top of the podium in both the Impact league and in our performance on the water," Tuke said.
"It's only a little way into the season, but to be the first team to actually do the double at a race weekend, the whole team takes a huge amount of pride to show that you can win on the water, as well as being the most sustainable team and to take that message of ocean restoration and protection to the world through our partnership with Live Ocean (Charity). It's been part of the team's DNA right from the beginning so yes, it's a big moment for the team."
Racing starts at 1.30am (NZT) on Saturday, with three fleet races before two fleet races from 1.30am on Sunday, and the podium race.
There are a further seven rounds in season three in St Tropez (September 10-11), Cadiz (September 24-25), Dubai (November 12-13), Singapore (January 14-15), Singapore (February 18-19), Christchurch (March 18-19) and San Francisco (May 6-7).
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