SailGP Day 2 - Black Foils score an emphatic win and take Season lead
by Richard Gladwell at Portsmouth 20 Jul 2025 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. Their 1,5,1 scoreline in the final fleet races were an indicator of what was to come.
“To be honest, the fleet racing was a bit of a blur, because we had such issues with our port dagger board not coming up,” Emirates GBR strategist Hannah Mills said.
“To be honest, we were just trying to manage that and figure out what was going on and make it to the final. The final itself was just a little bit tough. We just got a bit stuck with the Swiss on that first downwind, and had to, unfortunately, go left at Mark 2.”
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 the raising of their port daggerboard.
In the mixed zone after the racing, strategist Hannah Mills said of the issue which was not fixed until the third race of the day “it [port daggerboard] would kind of release and then just bounce around.”
“It happened at the end of Race 1. We thought it was fixed, and then it happened again in Race 2. By then we had made the finals, so we were going to miss Race 3 if we didn't fix it.”
The British team hung off to the side of the course as the rest of the fleet lined up for a start, with the support boat alongside and the technical team on board the F50 working feverishly to fix the issue.
“We had the technicians on board, changing valves and trying to make sure it was good to go. And then obviously, got everyone off just in time. Then it got fixed and we raced to see if it happened again, and just to test it before the final,” she said.
“The technicians did a fantastic job. Boat was all fixed and squared away for that last final racing,” added skipper Dylan Fletcher.
“I don't think it really affected us. Think the team did a fantastic job of resetting and dealing with that pressure. We know there's a lot of jeopardy, and that's what it's about. That's why it's exciting,” he explained.
The Swiss team also had technical issues during the final, but even so 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.
“It was an awesome day,” Burling said after the racing. “The wind began consistently dying and going left throughout the day. So it was a lot more interesting around the racetrack than yesterday, which was just a procession - where today there was a lot in it. So if you've got in the right spots with puffs and lulls, then you're pretty comfortable."
“We’re really pleased with the way it panned out,” he added.
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, on Leg 3 of Race 6 and were required to go behind the Canadian team who were almost last, and the penalty – warranted or not - made the Australian’s climb into a Final a lot steeper.
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.
The left hand shift knocked the Kiwis, who sailed up the layline to Mark 1, while Great Britain and Switzerland had an easier and faster reach to Mark 1.
But the Kiwis broke back, just after rounding Mark 2, and headed out to the left hand side of the course, along with the Swiss. The Black Foils clawed their way over the top of the Swiss and when they tacked, the Swiss were staring at the fast-disappearing Kiwi transoms. “Brits split to the unfavoured side. So we managed to just keep it clean and sail fast and take a win,” Burling said.
The Kiwis were able to stay ahead 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.
“It's nice to win in these tricky events where the breeze is up. But the standard of racing is getting better and better. You’ve just have to sail cleanly around the racetrack. We still made plenty of mistakes, and it was nice to just keep moving forward from them, and not let them snowball.”
A feature of the Solent course at the entrance to Portsmouth harbour was the number of obstructions dotted through the race area. The course was dominated by Spitfire Fort, a renovated WW2 defensive fort – one of several that dominate the area.
“We were thinking about a lot yesterday and today, we just decided to block it out a bit and figure it out when you got to it,” Burling said commenting on the effect of the Fort on their race strategy. “We just sailed a hotter angle if we needed to get above it. But there’s plenty of obstacles out there with the poles and the marks, lots of other stuff. So you need to constantly be talking to make sure you win.”
In the end it was 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.
“We are sailing well, we’re going fast. We know, if we continue to sail like this all week, all year, then we're going to get a result,” Fletcher reflected.
Results:
For some reason SailGP does not publish a full fleet racing result list.
In the Final Fleet Race of the day:
1. NZL
2. FRA
3. CAN
4. SUI
5. AUS
6. BRA
7. GBR
8. EDP
9. ITA
10. USA
11. DEN
12. GER