Black Foils wing trimmer Blair Tuke speaks about his chat with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon ahead of their SailGP final in San Francisco.
Video / NZ Herald
By Bonnie Jansen in San Francisco
This weekend’s SailGP grand final in San Francisco is poised for an electrifying transtasman showdown.
After three seasons of Australian dominance, the league now has a new frontrunner in the Black Foils.
New Zealand driver Peter Burling said heading into the final winner-takes-all regatta: “All season long, San Fran has been the goal; to get here and be the top-performing team going into this event and put it all together in the final.”
For the first time in the competition’s history, Australia is not the top qualifier for the $3.2 million race. The Black Foils have already secured their spot in the finale, while Australia will look to consolidate theirs in the five-fleet races across Sunday and Monday’s schedule. Spain and France appear set to battle for the third spot in the grand final’s three-boat shootout, which takes place after the final fleet race on Monday.
This season the Black Foils clinched five event victories, matching Australia’s record from season two. The tables have turned dramatically from last year when Australia led New Zealand by 11 points going into the final. Heading into Sunday’s races, the Kiwis now hold a 15-point lead.
Black Foils driver Peter Burling. Photo / Felix Diemer, SailGP
Despite this, the Australian SailGP Team, led by Tom Slingsby, remain the only team to have lifted the league trophy; winning the championship three times in a row. Last season, the grand final race came down to the final manoeuvre, with the Australians just edging out the Black Foils. The stage is set for this season’s finale to be another epic decider.
Burling believed the Black Foils’ opponents for the grand final would likely be confirmed in a decisive moment during the weekend, and said that was what he loved about this competition.
“There’ll be plenty more to tell the story as there has been all season long. Whoever gets into the final deserves to be there and I’m sure they’ll put on a hell of a challenge,” Burling said.
“We’d love to have another crack at the Australians in the final ... It’s going to be a hell of a battle.
“We definitely feel like we’ve learned a lot from being involved in that final last year from the start right through to the finish.”
In September, the Black Foils faced a major setback at the French Grand Prix when their wingsail collapsed after the opening day of racing. They were unable to finish the regatta, and a lack of available parts to fix the boat prevented them from competing in the next event in Italy. The team were awarded fifth place and six event points in Italy, given they were out of action through no fault of their won. Since that incident, New Zealand have turned their season-four campaign around.
Slingsby acknowledged the Black Foils’ form in the second half of the season, but said his team won’t be going down without a fight.
Tom Slingsby has recently led Australia to back-to-back championship victories in SailGP. Photo / Photosport
“They’ve been the dominant team and really came home strong in the second half of the season. They deserve the prize money for winning the season points.
“The Kiwis and the Aussies have an amazing rivalry in every sport we do, for sure, and it does sting a little more when you lose to the Kiwis.
“We would love the preparation that the Kiwis have had here. They’ve been a strong team, and they’ve got a lot of confidence coming off the last few events. I’m not going to lie, that’s how we would have loved to come into this event, like we have in previous seasons. But that’s not the case this time.”
With that in mind, Slingsby said they would be looking to draw confidence elsewhere.
“This venue suits our sailing with strong, consistent winds. Our record in the final races is strong; we’ve done really well in that million-dollar race in the past.
“That’s where we’re looking - to our history here.”
However, the Australians’ place in the three-boat final is no guarantee. While they’re in a strong position to secure a spot, they still need to avoid a disastrous finish in the fleet races to confirm it.
On both New Zealand’s and Australia’s tails are the Spanish, who sit two points behind Australia and have catapulted themselves into contention for the title.
They’ve come into their own this season, going from one fleet race win and finishing last overall in the previous campaign to 11 fleet race wins, two event wins and entering San Francisco third overall. France remain in the hunt, too, but would need everything to fall their way in the fleet races as they went into San Francisco five points back from the Spanish.
If Spain are to qualify for the final alongside the Aussies and Kiwis, they’ll be an undoubted underdog. Yet, they are one of the few teams this season to show they can tactically outmanoeuvre Australia and New Zealand, which is no easy feat.
Spain’s driver Diego Botin admitted it would be tough, but both teams were beatable.
“It will probably be one of the toughest things we’ve ever done ... These teams are really thinking into that final and will be thoroughly prepared for it.
“The way we are going to approach it is just focus on our performance and try to step up during the weekend because we will face conditions we haven’t seen a lot.”
Race times
Sunday
Three fleet races will take place from 9.30am, with start times scheduled for 9.37am, 10.07am and 10.35am.
Monday
Two fleet races will take place from 9.30am, with start times scheduled for 9.37am and 10.07am, with the three-boat grand finale scheduled for a 10.35am start.
Fans can tune into the action live on ThreeNow from 9.30am, or watch a replay on Three at 4.30pm, on Sunday and Monday. The Herald will be running a live blog of the grand final on Monday.
TAB odds
Black Foils $2, Australia $2.57, Spain $5, any other team $15.
Bonnie Jansen is a multimedia journalist in the NZME sports team. She’s a football commentator and co-host of the Football Fever podcast and was part of the Te Rito cadetship scheme before becoming a fulltime journalist.
