SailGP’s Season 5 continued from its first event in Dubai nearly two months ago—a drifter of an opener in the desert—with a high-speed weekend of racing in the breezy waters off downtown Auckland this weekend for the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix. With tight racecourses set between towering bleachers on shore and a sprawling spectator fleet, the races were unkind to many of the league’s fledgling teams that struggled with the newly-introduced T-foils for the F50s, and after two days and eight races it was the experienced Australia SailGP team that emerged as the regatta’s dominant winner, taking out Emirates GBR and Spain SailGP Team in the three-boat final.
“This win means so much to us,” said the Australian skipper, Tom Slingsby, who acknowledged the notable contributions of his new wing trimmer, Chris Draper. “The team set us up so well. We had an amazing last race. It felt like we were fighting the British on the first leg, then the Spanish caught us on the final, upwind leg. They [Spain] had chosen to sort of concede and take a second, but they went for it and went for the win but we managed to just get around them.”
After mid-fleet results on the opening day and in Fleet Races 5 and 6, New Zealand’s Black Foils squad found their groove to finish second in Fleet Race 7, but it wasn’t enough to secure a spot in the Final. ROCKWOOL Denmark also lost out in the battle for third despite claiming back-to-back wins in Fleet Races 6 and 7. Skipper Nicolai Sehested and his teammates put up stellar performances in those races, putting their several years of experience in the F50 to good use and displaying confidence with the new foils and the high speeds that come with them.
New Zealand driver Peter Burling said, “For us it was a really frustrating day. It felt like each day we really progressed forward during the day and got better and better as we got more comfortable, but it wasn’t quite enough. We’re really excited with the way the team is going – now, we just have to take the next event off the Aussies on their home turf.”
The titanium T-Foils that were added to the fleet for the Auckland event proved to be a handful for many teams, including the SailGP United States squad, which had a few decent starts, but struggled with maneuvers.
“At times, I think the boats are more stable,” said the US team’s helmsman Taylor Canfield after several days of training with the new foils. “At times they make it challenging for us to sail these boats. That’s the nature of trying to get more speed out of these machines and to continue to be on the forefront of technology and push the limits.”
Whereas the F50s previous L-shaped foils had fewer adjustments for the foil trimmers to deal with, the new setup allows the flight controllers to manipulate the T-foil’s angle of tack with both cant and rake adjustments, which must also take into consideration rudder settings simultaneously.
“I don’t think we’re sailing the boat that much differently,” Canfield added, “but a lot of our roles have changed on board as a result. I think that it’s impacting the starting process quite a bit, like getting back to the start line a little bit quicker than anticipated.”
The US team continued its preferred pre-start approach of leading the fleet to the line and setting up early, and while it worked on a few occasions, there were other starts that left them stalled in a stream of wing wash. The few good starts they did manage quickly unraveled after rounding the first mark—visibly struggling with keeping the boat at stable flight.
“There’s a finer essence flying the boat in a straight line around the racecourse because we’re now seeing the tip of the foil pop out of the water,” Canfield explained on a media call before the racing got underway on Saturday in New Zealand. “If we get too much foil coming out of the water without enough boat speed, all the flow detaches from the foil, and the boat drops out of the sky. So, there’s definitely some moments where we need to be cautious of getting too high on the foils. It’s quite costly if we fall off the foils.”
After the Aussie win in Auckland, the Black Foils drop to second in the 2025 Season standings of the Rolex SailGP Championship, while Emirates Great Britain (with Dylan Fletcher helming) move into first – both are tied with 17 points. The Australia SailGP Team are now third overall (16 points). Canada did not race on Day 2 after flight controller Billy Gooderham sustained an injury in warm up. France was not on the start line this weekend as the team awaits completion of the league’s newest F50 catamaran, Boat 12. The league cited issues with the boat’s new wing, which will be online for the next regatta, the Australia Sail Grand Prix in February.
