Today's Edition
Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
Keeping it simple did the trick for the New Zealand team as they took the podium in first place at the inaugural Mubadala SailGP event, the seventh leg of the series in Abu Dhabi. It concluded the Middle East chapter of Season 4 of the series for the F50 catamarans following back-to-back legs in the UAE, with Dubai having hosted the sixth last month.
New Zealand started the opening of the five-race event in first place, and managed to hang on to third spot ahead of France, with both on 30 points. With only three teams making it to the final-race shootout, New Zealand came up against the most consistent Spain and the United States.
“There were ups and downs, but we had the belief and stuck to our plan. We just had to keep doing what we were doing,” said Peter Burning. “To put it together in the end in the last two races is awesome for us in the overalls. We have really enjoyed our time at Abu Dhabi, it's an awesome racetrack; it is unlucky we had really light wind but I suppose you have to play with the conditions.”
New Zealand are now just six points behind Championship leaders Australia as the series move to the advantage of the latter in Sydney.
With the boats similar in technical specifications, it came down to how the teams gelled as a unit, said most of the lead drivers of almost all the teams.
Adding to that, Taylor Canfield said: “There is something to some teams at new places. To come to Abu Dhabi is incredible for us. Some venues can be more windy like Sydney, New Zealand and Bermuda coming up next. These two events were on the lighter side so there was not much foiling, but now we have to see how we can transition as a unit when we reach Sydney."
“We are a new team and this is just our second event. We are growing and getting better by the day with me driving the boat – we are happy where we are at. Continuing with the communication even at lighter events is so important and we need to keep working on it internally,” Canfield added.
Spain went into Day 2’s action as favourites, but true to the unpredictable nature of the sport and the SailGP series, they ended up finishing second. They were in danger of coming in a step further when they went wide before turning in for the final 200-metre odd dash. But in the end, they picked up the wind they were hoping for to just outpace the Americans with New Zealand firmly past the finish line comfortably ahead.
A pleased Spanish driver Diego Botin said: “There were highs and lows. We won, but when we did not, we were towards the bottom on the timings. But all in all, it has been really nice to win three races in Abu Dhabi. The crowd was amazing and felt a lot of support for us, and we’re looking forward to coming back here again.”
The greatest day with Take That ruling the SailGP stage in Abu Dhabi yesterday 🫶 pic.twitter.com/drSdnOkc0S
— SailGP (@SailGP) January 14, 2024
Beyond the podium places, the strong teams of France and Australia missed out. It was especially cruel for the accomplished Tom Slingsby and his Australian side which finished ninth in Race 5 after topping Race 4. With each race, the top of the leaderboard gets preference at the start in the next one.
He revealed later that a bug in their internal team software caused a delay of one or two seconds. “Look, I really don’t want to go there because it can be a slippery slope with teams using it as an excuse.
“But it hurts… because even that one second meant a gap of one or two metres in distance and that can be make or break as it did for us. From being the leaders to seventh on the leaderboard is crushing,” said Slingsby, one of the most decorated sailors with an Olympic medal, nine world championships and the hero of America’s Cup-winning team in 2013.
Elsewhere, Germany picked up its best result so far – a second-place finish in Fleet Race 5, while Abu Dhabi marked the first final without Australia since the beginning of Season 4.
