It comes off the back of a punishing Perth opener, with the Black Foils beginning the season with a collision with the Swiss.
Neither team was able to continue on the opening day of racing, and the Kiwis have been hit with a penalty.
NZ Herald sports reporter Christopher Reive told The Front Page that high winds favour “sending it” racing over fine technical sailing.
“Trying to stay out of other teams’ ways and trying to adjust to the conditions. So, it’ll be fun to watch,” he said.
Auckland’s course tends to be patchy and gusty compared to places like Perth, which makes decision-making harder at speeds over 100km/h.
“When you’re going that fast, trying to make pretty quick decisions in what is gonna be a pretty tight race course with 13 boats on it, there’s certainly an element of danger there.
“I feel like the high wind venues, just as someone who watches, there’s a lot more opportunity for teams to mess up and other teams to take advantage because there’s a lot more jeopardy in that sense,” Reive said.
American Magic’s $98.8 million (US$60m) buyout of Rockwool Denmark brings NBA money and Doug DeVos into the sailing scene.
With the sale, only two SailGP teams remain league-owned, with Spain and New Zealand’s Black Foils yet to move into a private ownership model.
“Seeing a team sold for US$60m means they’re pretty confident that a lot of the teams will either break even or be profitable in the next year or two, which is great for a league that five years ago was just starting up.
“They’ve announced that they are turning their Pensacola facility into a Sail GP training facility, which Sail GP has never had.
“That’s a big talking point around the fleet, that they don’t get time to practice in these boats before race weekends,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- The Auckland event
- Talent and pathways
- Weekend predictions
- Kiwi influence in sailing.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
