Peter Burling (left) and Blair Tuke during a Black Foils practice session in New York this week. Photo / SailGP

'A bit strange': How Black Foils adjusted to SailGP's unexpected three-month break

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Author: Christopher Reive,
Publish Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2025, 10:26am

A three-month break between events was not what anyone involved in SailGP expected.

But after the wingsail on the Australian boat collapsed during racing in March’s regatta in San Francisco, safety took priority.

Over the past few months, the league has been assessing and addressing the equipment after finding bonding issues with the shear web – a component that helps to provide strength – in some of the wingsails of the 12-boat fleet.

That meant the league had to cancel the planned event in Brazil early last month, leaving teams with a long wait before getting back to action this weekend in New York, where New Zealand’s Black Foils will look to defend the event title they won last year.

“It’s certainly been a little bit strange, especially with the unplanned nature of it,” Black Foils wing trimmer Blair Tuke told the Herald. “Teams had to vary up the approach a little bit, try to stay busy, look at new areas we can try and improve.

“Normally, in between events, you know how long it is and what you can try and bite off project-wise, so we reassessed that when the announcement was made that there was no Rio and dived into some projects a little bit deeper.

“It’s certainly been an unusual time, but the team’s made good use of the time and we’re pretty excited to get back together in New York and get the season back under way.

“It kind of feels like the season’s just taken a bit of a hiatus and kind of packed up.”

The break between events didn’t come at an ideal time for the teams, who were still learning the best ways to get the most out of the new high-speed T-Foils first used in Auckland in January.

During that time, the Black Foils, along with their charity partner Live Ocean, were able to organise a local foiling event – Foil4TheGulf – which aimed to bring awareness to and show support for the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill.

From a Black Foils perspective, the event – which attracted more than 200 entrants to become New Zealand’s largest foiling event by entries – will count toward their score for SailGP’s impact league, which judges the teams on the positive effects they have on the planet.

But while there has been some uncertainty in terms of racing since the teams were last in action, Tuke said SailGP had done a great job of communicating with as much clarity as possible.

“It’s been a very big effort from the boat builders and the structural engineers to get all of these wings repaired and rebuilt in parts to meet the new structural loads, I guess, or what they want the design for.

“It’s no small feat when you’ve got 12 identical boats. When you make a small change or fix on anything, if it’s just one boat, you can do it. To do that on a scale of 12 boats, it’s a lot. They’ve done a great job there.

SailGP returns to New York this week after a three-month break between events. Photo / SailGP

“Outside of that, there’s also been a lot of work as to what these T-foils are, understanding the load cases and just the general sailing of the boats and where the high-risk moments are, or the higher loaded moments, so just increasing the knowledge for all the sailors.

“That’s a combined effort. When it comes to structural things or safety things, teams work together to understand where the limits are. It’s not like you’re trying to find a competitive advantage. The process with the league and with all the teams has been pretty collaborative.”

The Black Foils return to the water this weekend in fourth place in the overall standings. They opened the season with a win in Dubai but have taken time to get back up to speed with a new lineup.

With the event in New York marking the midway point of the season, Tuke was confident about how the team was set up with the busy European leg looming.

“I think the start of the season for us, it’s a new group coming together and the results have probably shown that we’ve had good moments and we’ve had some moments where we want to be better in quite a few areas. But all in all, we’re in a pretty good spot for the rest of the season.”