NZL Sailing Team - Burling and Tuke notch up 27th successive win

by Jodie Bakewell-White on 26 Jun 2016 Emirates Team NZ's crew members Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have recorded yet another regatta victory to their mounting tally with a win in the 49er class at 2016 Kiel Week in Germany.

Going into today’s medal race the kiwis had a 26 point lead rendering them unassailable and they went on to take their 27th straight regatta win.

Burling said, “It’s obviously nice to take another victory in some pretty challenging conditions here in Kiel. But for us it’s our last big event before Rio so it’s really pleasing to take the win.”

Not everyone they’ll face this August in Rio was racing, but a strong fleet totalling close to 40 boats battled it out over 14 races. Burling and Tuke won six of those races.

Asked whether there is any room for improvement left in the final build-up to Rio, Tuke says; “We’ll take some learnings out of this week – we had a really challenging week it was nice today that we finally got some good breeze with flat water offshore but predominantly it’s been quite light and tricky so just like we’re going to see in Rio so we’re happy we came here, it’s been some great practice. Lots of learnings to take forward, as always.

Burling commented on the fact that no regatta victory comes easily; “It’s really challenging every time we win and it’s something that’s why we race the 49er you know, if you get it wrong you get bad results. We made it tough for ourselves getting an OCS early on in the week. We’re really happy to bounce back from that and make it a good event.”

Tuke says that while they’ll celebrate this win, they remain focussed on the Rio 2016 Olympic Games; “We’ll enjoy it. Hamish our coach is here. It’s onwards and upwards towards Rio for us, but no we will celebrate this. It’s always good to take a regatta win and it’s been a great week here in Kiel – we’ve enjoyed our time, great hospitality and it’s another stepping stone for us looking forwards towards Rio.”

Burling and Tuke are part of a 12-strong team of New Zealand sailors who are now in the final countdown to Rio 2016. Laser representative Sam Meech will be the first of the New Zealand Olympic Team sailors to start racing on 8 August.