By Christopher Reive in Perth

Attention now moves to Auckland.

After a horror start to their SailGP season, New Zealand’s Black Foils are now at the mercy of the SailGP Technologies team as their home event looms.

The Kiwi crew were ruled out of action in the first race of the new season; a crash with Switzerland ripping the transom off their F50 catamaran in Perth on Saturday.

With the Auckland event the next stop on the calendar, with racing on the Waitematā Harbour on February 14 and 15, the clock is ticking on getting the boat repaired and back on to the starting line.

“Hopeful’s probably the right word. I mean, there’s a lot of people involved in the outlook of it and obviously that’s not really the sailors at this point,” Black Foils strategist Liv Mackay told the Herald of the immediate outlook.

“I’m confident that the biggest effort will be made. They’ve done things that people thought were impossible before in SailGP, so I really have belief that they’ll do everything possible to get us racing in Auckland.”

Mackay and driver Peter Burling spent the second day of the regatta in Perth in the booth alongside coaches Matthew Steven and William McKenzie, and team operations manager Troy Tindill to watch the action.

It gave them the opportunity to see the racing from a different viewpoint and, for Mackay, it was a chance to get more familiar with how the new coaches operate. They weren’t alone, with members of the Spanish team also in the booth after their boat was damaged earlier in the week in practice.

“It really complements my role a lot, like what they do in the booth, what information they can get, learning a bit about the pace of everything off race and how they see things versus what you see.

“So how you can interlink in a more efficient, smooth manner so you’re really getting that information accurately and who has the best view. It’s actually really helpful, and the Spanish team are in there with us as well, so it feels like a lot of sailors that shouldn’t be there right now, but yeah, we’re definitely just trying to make the most of the situation.”

Season five winners Great Britain took the win in Perth, picking up where they left off to beat out Australia and France in the final.

The British came into Sunday fifth on the table, but were the pick of the teams on Sunday as they won two of the three fleet races before the podium race.

The Black Foils, deemed to be in the wrong for the crash with Switzerland, were handed a three-point penalty on their season total, as well as a seven-point penalty for the event.

“They’ve changed the policy for this season, so it’s not as bad as it could have been in the past,” Mackay said.

“I think that’s just a part of the sport with the umpire decisions and everything’s happening so quickly. So, yes, it’s not terrible. There’s a long way to go in the season and we’ve been in worse positions before.

“I definitely don’t have a negative mindset about it, but we’re just focusing on Auckland right now and hopefully get racing.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.