Black Foils reward their fans with victory at SailGP Auckland. Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP
Hometown favourites New Zealand have salvaged themselves from a dire predicament on the opening day of SailGP Auckland, winning the fourth and final race to stay alive in the seven-race programme this weekend.
Heavily favoured, after winning the league's opening event at Dubai last November, the Black Foils fell quickly behind the eight ball on a blustery Waitematā Harbour, completely missing the start in the first race, and then over and under-compensating in the next two to languish sixth overall.
With only three boats graduating to the final after six or seven races, the Kiwis needed a vastly improved performance in the day's last contest and simply produced one, grabbing prime position on the startline and sailing away from their rivals to keep their hopes alive.
"Definitely, the last race was the result we wanted," reflected driver Peter Burling.
"We really struggled to get anything today and we made a few mistakes at the start, overshooting one way and then the other, but to put it all together in the last race to get such a dominant win gives us a good bit of momentum going into tomorrow."
Burling led his team to victory in their previous home appearance at Christchurch last year and must feel some pressure to repeat that in Auckland, but they found themselves at the back of the fleet at the start of race one, eventually threading their way through the field for fourth.
Eighth in race two did nothing to help their fortunes, but another strong finish rescued a few placings for sixth in the third, still five points off the top three - Australia, Great Britain and defending champions Spain.
Spain lead the SailGP on Auckland's Waitematā Harbour. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP
"Tricky, shifty conditions and that first race, we ended up super late at the start," said Burling.
"We thought it was quite a bit windier that it was and then got stuck in a massive lull.
"It's something that shouldn't happen at this level, but the next two, we felt like we were overcorrecting. We were too early in one and a bit late in the third one, but we were pleased with the way the group kept moving forward and absolutely nailed that last one to take a win.
"I think we went backwards a lot in periods and then forwards a lot in periods - plenty of snakes and ladders, but it was nice to end a couple more on the ladder side than the snakes. Tomorrow, we have to get off the startline well and looking forward to coming up with a plan to do that tonight."
On fourth attempt, the NZ F50 boat was again back in the fleet with the startline approaching, but this time, Burling and strategist Liv Mackay picked the wind perfectly to hit the line at top speed, much faster than their opposition.
"We made life complicated for ourselves in the first three, but always concentrated on chipping away at boats," said Mackay.
"Every point counts in this league, so really stoked at how we came back through, and then that last one, with the breeze up, that made life a little easier and that good start.
"There definitely wasn't a feeling that we had to sort it out just then, but we're always attacking the start and coming at it with pace because that mark one position pays hugely down the track.
"I wouldn't say we had a different mentality to any other race, but as the day goes on, people can make more mistakes and we were really just trying to jump on that. It was a really good learning day on the harbour and similar wind tomorrow, so we'll be looking to build on that."
The shifty conditions made for contrasting fortunes throughout the day, with four different race winners.
Three-time champions Australia, who were toppled from their throne last year and failed to reach the Dubai final, returned to the top of the table, six points clear of the British, with another point back to Spain.
SailGP fleet passes the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP
The Kiwis actually beat their Trans-Tasman rivals twice in the four races, but were well beaten in those other two.
"We've been doing really well," insisted Aussie driver Tom Slingsby.
"In training, we've been the top team and we were leading in Dubai, before one tough race and falling down the standings.
"Training here, we've been doing really, really well. Good first day, but Dubai taught us not to take anything for granted, because one bad race and we can fall out of the final.
"We're going to really concentrate tomorrow and really lock in a good result."
The highly anticipated debut of T-foils across the fleet was expected to generate record speeds, but the fastest was achieved by stragglers Brazil at 87kph, well short of the 99.94kph mark held by France.
Sunday's programme consists of at least two more preliminary races, depending on conditions, before the three-boat final to climax the weekend.
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