After two days of racing in shifting conditions and high pressure, the Black Foils came within striking distance of victory at the New York SailGP—only to be undone by one costly misstep in the Grand Final. Speaking shortly after coming ashore, skipper Peter Burling was composed but candid.
“Didn’t seem like the 50–50s were going our way in the final,” he said. “Just made a tiny mistake at the start, let the Spanish kind of have that inside run.”
Spain went on to win the Grand Final, with New Zealand finishing second and France rounding out the podium. Burling’s team had fought their way into the three-boat final with strong performances in Races 5 and 6, including a second-place finish in the penultimate fleet race. But the final, as ever in SailGP, came down to inches.
One moment too far
The defining moment came at the entry to Leg 5, where New Zealand, still within five seconds of Spain, bounced hard into the chop at the bottom gate. They came off their foils, lost momentum, and watched their deficit stretch to over 30 seconds in a matter of moments.
“We made a bit of a mistake at the bottom mark,” Burling admitted. “We were pretty close to the penalty. All in all, it’s frustrating—but that’s racing.”
There was also some doubt about a possible incident at the same gate. Burling stopped short of criticising the umpires but suggested there was more to review.
“It felt like a penalty at the bottom mark,” he said. “From my side, it looked like a pretty clean port start. Liv was obviously staring up at them—it’ll be interesting to review that one.”
Silver lining in performance
Despite the result, Burling struck a positive note about the team’s overall performance across the weekend—particularly after a string of frustrating results in recent events.
“It’s really nice to come out firing,” he said. “We’ve been on a really tough run with issues with the boat and a few things just not quite swinging our way.”
The New York round finally offered a clean slate. “It was nice to have a clean weekend, have everything working, and show what we can do.”
Tricky conditions, top-end racing
Asked about the physical challenge of the day’s racing, Burling acknowledged how difficult it had been to stay consistently on the foils—particularly on the high-speed reach legs.
“It was definitely top end on the airboards,” he said. “There was this underlying chop coming through that made it super hard to fly, especially on the reach.”
That challenge was shared across the fleet. “I think the team just got more comfortable as the day went on. It’s amazing how much the level ramps up through a day like this.”
Eyes forward
Despite missing out on the event win, the Black Foils leave New York in a stronger position than they arrived. The team sits second on the event leaderboard and, critically, put a string of mechanical issues and inconsistent results behind them.
For Burling, the focus now turns to what lies ahead.
“We’re really happy with the way we sailed this weekend. We got a lot more comfortable in those tricky conditions. Now we’re looking forward to the rest of the season.”
