NZ Sailgp’s hat-trick quest
The New Zealand Sailgp team is determined to maintain its building momentum when the global league’s latest regatta is raced at St Tropez in France this weekend.
After their long drought, New Zealand come to the glamour destination ‘‘buzzing’’ after back-toback wins in Southampton and Copenhagen.
The victory in Denmark was unprecedented as they won all three fleet races and the final in the one day at a regatta shortened by light airs.
‘‘A few of us in the team said to each other you don’t get many days across any disciplines like that,’’ Blair Tuke told Stuff from St Tropez as they got into practice.
‘‘What a day, it was awesome to all come together like that. It was great reward for the team after a heck of a lot of hard work to slowly increment the gains.
‘‘To get two regatta wins in a row, we come into this one with a lot of confidence but still with a lot of areas to work on.’’
This is the fifth of 11 events and the Kiwis are now second on the points table behind Australia.
‘‘Obviously, there’s still a long season ahead. It would be good to solidify that momentum. It’s not easy to win races, it’s not easy to win race weekends, and we have a long-term view on it.
‘‘We have to be consistent, and ultimately we want to win that season grand final in San Francisco. But the team is buzzing to keep pushing on now.’’
As good as the Copenhagen result was, there were a couple of factors that will make St Tropez a bigger challenge.
Sir Ben Ainslie’s Great Britain team was forced out of the Danish regatta when it damaged a rudder on the final practice.
And the Australians struggled without star wing trimmer Kyle Langford, who stayed home for the birth of his second child. For the first time in nearly 12 months Australia didn’t feature in the event final, with a fifth, third and fourth place in the day’s three fleet races.
The Brits have their repaired boat back now and Australia have Langford back as his absence again proved how vulnerable these teams can be in terms of depth in key positions.
New Zealand certainly aren’t handicapped in that way with the strategist work of their female sailors. Their depth here is the envy of the fleet.
Former Olympic 470 champion Jo Aleh came on board for the first time to help the breakthrough win in Plymouth, and Liv Mackay returned for the Copenhagen triumph. Now Erica Dawson, fresh off a win in the medal race and an eventual ninth at the world Nacra 17 championships in Canada, gets her chance as Tuke and Peter Burling rotate their roster.