SailGP: Burling says the Black Foils are 'gutted' by their Finals loss
by Jodie Bakewell-White 15 Jul 2024 17:20 NZST
15 July 2024
New Zealand Sail GP team - Race Day 2 - SailGP Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco, USA - July 14, 2024 © Riccardo Pinto / SailGP
New Zealand’s Black Foils, the Season 4 champions finished third in the 2024 SailGP Grand Final on Sunday, in San Francisco.
Instead it was Spain, the third and final qualifier, who took their first SailGP crown winning the Grand Final on San Francisco Bay today in a dramatic conclusion to Season 4.
Peter Burling says the team is gutted; “We really wanted to come away positive here, it definitely hurts.”
Today the fleet sailed two races ahead of the big show-down, with all eyes on the battle for third to join New Zealand and Australia for the winner-takes-all Grand Final, between Spain and France. With the Spanish claiming the spot it was all on between them, the Black Foils and Australia.
After racing Burling said, “We really wanted to go out with a win there today. It felt like we were building nicely and had a really good first race. We just struggled to find a bit of stability in that 5th race which definitely didn’t help our confidence going into the final… but we did a good job of bouncing back. We won the leeward end of the start, but couldn’t quite hold that position to mark one.”
“It got pretty tricky as soon as they got rid of one of the bottom marks – which made it a bit of a procession. We took a couple of options that definitely didn’t help us. It felt like we struggled to sail the boat as well as we know we can.”
Despite not taking the winner-takes-all Grand Final race this has been the Black Foils best-ever season on the water topping out the pointscore on the ‘season leaderboard’ ahead of the Grand Final. Across the 13-event season they’ve had seven podium finishes, including five event wins in Chicago, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Christchurch and New York.
While feeling gutted, Burling did say; “I’m sure we’ll still be incredibly proud of the season we’ve had, leading on points by so far coming into this final event.”
“Super proud of the group, we’re obviously hurting quite a lot at the moment, so we’ll go back and reflect on that and come out swinging next season.”
His message for Black Foils fans was heartfelt; “Thanks for all the support, it means the world to us. It’s been amazing racing here this weekend and we’ve really felt that support from everyone who has travelled out this way and from across the Pacific. Gutted we couldn’t put together a better show for you today.”
Season 4 has had its challenges for the New Zealand team, especially in the early stages when at event 3 at SailGP Saint Tropez, Amokura’s wing suffered catastrophic collapse forcing the team out for the second day of racing and the subsequent event in Taranto, Italy. Rebounding from that the team fought back across subsequent events to come into San Francisco with an unprecedented 15-point lead on the fleet.
In the end it was Spain who added to their rolling tally of national sporting success across the weekend, went out with nothing to lose and toppled reigning and three-time champions Australia.
Their battle to make the Grand Final was fought with France in the first fleet race today in which France failed to keep clear of Denmark as they came into the final turning mark, causing a collision in which they broke their rudder. Unable to replace it in time for fleet race five, and docked 8 points from the season pointscore for their error, pushed France out of the running opening the door for Spain who went on to claim the Grand Final.
Across SailGP Season 4 the New Zealand team have plenty of other highlights to reflect on including the launch of the new Black Foils identity, a year of unprecedented supporter and fan engagement, victory in front of a home crowd in Christchurch and a home event confirmed for Auckland in January 2025.
There’s not long to wait before the most exciting racing returns with SailGP recently unveiling its 2024/2025 Season calendar, featuring new events in Brazil, Germany, Switzerland and Auckland, as well as a return to Great Britain and New York.
Unfolding over a 12-month period - beginning and ending in November (2024-2025) - next season will be the league’s most expansive to date, with 14 events across an increased five continents