SailGP Day 2 - Black Foils score an emphatic win and take Season lead
by Richard Gladwell at Portsmouth 20 Jul 11:27 PDT
Black Foils cross the finish line to win SailGP Portsmouth - Jul;y 20, 2025 © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com / nz
New Zealand’s Black Foils won the Final of Emirates SailGP in Portsmouth, with a come from behind win, in the Final to eclipse the home team and Switzerland.
Peter Burling and friends were on a roll from the start of the second day of racing in the regatta, always looking to be a finalist.
Gear problems, officially described as technical issues, if they were mentioned at all affected several of the teams, including the British, who suffered issues with being able to raise their port daggerboard.
The Swiss team also had technical issues during the final, but were able to make the podium for the first time in SailGP.
But none of that should subtract from an emphatic Kiwi win, which has pushed them to the top of the points table for Season 5.
After the superlative British effort on the first day of the regatta, where they topped the leaderboard by 6pts, no-one seriously expected the Brits to not make the Final. The BlackFoils went into the final day tied in third place with Tom Slingsby’s Flying Roo’s. However the Australians got on the wrong side of an umpire call, and were forced to drop back to last race, and that made their climb into a final a lot more difficult.
In the Final race, Britain and Switzerland looked to have got the better of the New Zealanders at the start, and Kiwi fans settled back expecting a repeat of what had gone wrong so often before.
After the race, skipper Peter Burling said the wind shifted left just before the start, which dropped them back on the two windward boats. But the Kiwis broke back, and despite being chased hard by the British on the final legs, it was the usual match racing situation, of catching being easy, but passing is a lot more difficult.
In the end it was simply a matter of the Kiwis staying between the Brits and the mark, to take a well fought win, in front of the expectant but disappointed Portsmouth fans.