Please select your home edition
Edition
Melges 2023 - Melges 15 LEADERBOARD

SailGP: Kiwis hope to be back for Spain SailGP in Cadiz

by Natalie Fortier 25 Sep 05:33 PDT 26 September 2023
The three boat Final at Italy SailGP held in Taranto suffered from a lack of wind - eventually the time limit ran out © SailGP

Emirates GBR has picked up its second consecutive event win after the Rockwool Italy Sail Grand Prix in Taranto three-boat final against Australia and the United States was terminated due to light winds on Sunday.

In a sharp turnaround from Saturday's conditions, the three top teams were unable to reach the third gate in the 16-minute race time limit - with winds dropping to just 7 km/h - resulting in the termination of the final. This meant the top team from the weekend's five fleet races - Emirates GBR - picked up the overall event win, while Australia and the United States finished in second and third respectively.

A key story of the day was the comeback of Jimmy Spithill's United States SailGP Team, which bounced back from an athlete injury on day one to pick up a third and first place finish in fleet racing. The third place in the final was set to go to France, but when Canada pipped Quentin Delapierre's team to the finish line in fleet race five, USA secured the third spot instead.

This weekend's scoring sees New Zealand maintain its position as fifth on the overall season leaderboard. The Kiwis were granted an automatic fifth-place finish - or six compensatory points -in Taranto after the league was unable to provide the replacement parts required for the Kiwis to race, following the full structural failure of the team's wingsail at the last event in Saint-Tropez.

Commenting from afar, New Zealand wing trimmer Blair Tuke said, "We saw some really interesting racing this weekend, with conditions right at the top end of the wind range yesterday, and at the very bottom end today."

"It was an excellent performance from the USA - they sailed great in those conditions today and I think we saw the three best-placed teams make it into the final."

Reflecting on the season standings, Tuke said: "The leaderboard really could have gone either way this weekend and in the end, we saw the front teams widen their lead. As it worked out, with Emirates GBR and Australia having strong results and Denmark and Spain not having their best performance, we've managed to stay where we are [fifth] in the standings and maintain contact with the top three teams."

With SailGP working towards a solution to get Amokura back on the startline in Cádiz in three weeks' time, Tuke said: "From here, we'll prepare for Cádiz as we would any other time; we'll make sure we have the learnings from Saint-Tropez, gather what we can from this event and plot the best way forward to get back on the water and get our season back on track."

"It's a long season and our main focus is ourselves and how we claw our way back from here," Tuke said.

SailGP - and the Kiwis - are back next month for the Spain Sail Grand Prix | Cádiz, 14-15 October CEST.

Season 4 standings after the Rockwool Italy Sail Grand Prix can be found sailgp.com/results/season-4/season-championship

Related Articles

SailGP: Kiwis second overall but break rig
Shortly after the end of racing, New Zealand's 29-metre wing collapsed Shortly after the end of racing, New Zealand's 29-metre wing collapsed, breaking off into the water and instigating an immediate salvage operation to ensure all debris was removed from the water. Posted on 10 Sep
SailGP: Saint-Tropez gears up for showdown
NZ's biggest rivals promising promising “more aggression” and a quest for revenge against Kiwis The stage is set for SailGP's return to Europe, with New Zealand's biggest rivals promising “more aggression” and a quest for revenge against the Kiwis. Posted on 9 Sep
Double Olympic medalist joins Kiwi SailGP crew
Kiwi crew keen to get back to the top of the leaderboard after disappointment of Los Angeles The Saint-Tropez event will mark seven weeks since the Kiwis' lacklustre second event of the season, in which the team struggled to find form on the port of Los Angeles. Posted on 28 Aug
SailGP: Kiwis finish seventh in LA
A “tough weekend” sees New Zealand finish seventh in Los Angeles, dropping to fifth overall A “tough weekend” sees New Zealand finish seventh in Los Angeles, inching down to fifth on the overall season standings. Spain celebrated their first-ever event victory Posted on 24 Jul
NZSailGP Team have a steep hill to climb on Day 2
New Zealand sits seventh on the event leaderboard with only an outside chance of making the Final New Zealand sits seventh on the event leaderboard after a fourth, fifth and tenth-place finish on Day 1 of the Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix. Posted on 23 Jul
NZ second in heart-stopping SailGP Grand Final
Second place in heart stopping SailGP Grand Final rounds out Season 3 for Kiwis The New Zealand SailGP Team came away second in a nail-biting grand final race on the iconic San Francisco Bay, to round out Season 3 of SailGP. Season 4 starts in mid-June. Posted on 9 May
SailGP: Kiwis deny Slingsby is a target
Burling says his team is relishing the opportunity to beat Australia, but was looking at others, too Asked in this morning's pre-event media conference if he had hopes of “spoiling Tom [Slingsby]'s party at home,” New Zealand skipper Peter Burling said his team was relishing the opportunity, but had other crews in their sights too. Posted on 17 Feb
SailGP: Kiwis feel the heat in Dubai
The Kiwis will be feeling the heat this weekend when SailGP makes its Middle Eastern debut The Kiwis will be feeling the heat this weekend when SailGP makes its Middle Eastern debut at the Dubai Sail Grand Prix Posted on 11 Nov 2022
SailGP: Kiwis seek strong finish in Cadiz
NZ SailGP Team will look to finish the European leg of the Season 3 strongly in Cadiz This weekend, the New Zealand SailGP Team will look to finish the European leg of the Season 3 Championship strong, entering the fourth and final event in Spain placed second overall, only a single point behind defending champions Posted on 24 Sep 2022
SailGP: Kiwis continue dominance in Saint-Tropez
New Zealand continued its dominant streak, in Saint-Tropez winning two of three fleet races. The Kiwis have continued their dominating streak, winning two of three fleet races to finish Day 1 of the Range Rover France Sail Grand Prix in pole position. New Zealand has now won nine of the last 13 races. Posted on 11 Sep 2022
Festival of Sails 2024 FOOTERRooster 2023 - FOOTERRS Sailing 2021 - FOOTER