SailGP: NZ's Blackfoils have work to do in Geneva on Sunday
by Ben Mackey - Black Foils 20 Sep 18:35 PDT
New Zealand ahead of Great Britain - Race Day 1 of the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix - Geneva, Switzerland - September 20, 2025 © Samo Vidic/SailGP
A wire to wire victory in SailGP's first ever race on Lake Geneva provided the Black Foils' (NZL) highlight of a challenging opening day in Switzerland.
That strong performance sailing in the three-up configuration due to the light winds in Geneva was followed by results of fifth and eleventh in the only other two possible fleet races of the day.
Those results have the team in fifth overall on 16 points in a bunched middle pack two points behind hosts Switzerland in third place. The Australian team Bonds Flying Roos (25 points) and Emirates Great Britain (23) lead the way after the opening day.
Black Foils Co-CEO and Driver Peter Burling said it was a day of slim margins.
"It was a super tricky day. We obviously started off really well and nailed a pretty clean race. We knew if you led at Mark 1 it was going to be an easy day. In the second race I think we did a great job of getting back through the pack. Then pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong in the last one. It was frustrating to finish the day off in that fashion with lots of mistakes and a few technical issues."
Despite that finish Burling was pleased to be still in the mix heading into Sunday.
"We are still right in the hunt for tomorrow. The forecast looks beautiful and we look forward to trying to go out and put on a show. If you are in the pack you are always trying to make the best of the situation. I think we showed we could do that really well in the middle race but it was frustrating to not be able to do the same in the last one. If you got one good lane you could gain eight or nine boats like the Aussies did in the last one.
"It felt like we were 90% of the way there but the 10% really let us down today combined with a number of mistakes."
The Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix from Geneva continues tomorrow at the earlier time of 02-00pm local time 1200hrs UTC (or 12-00am Monday NZT) due to a changing weather forecast and with the threat of lightning. All the action will be live in on Youtube.