The New Zealand SailGP team will be forced to borrow a boat for next month’s event in Sydney, with their F50 catamaran Amokura out of action for the event following a lightning strike in Singapore.
The boat was struck by lightning following the Singapore event’s final race, whichwas won by the New Zealand team. Because they were off enjoying the trophy presentation and celebrating, none of the crew were on board when the strike hit. Members of the Swiss, French and Danish crews were helping to pack the boat down. Danish grinder Martin Kirketerp sustained a shock and was transported to a local hospital where he underwent tests, which all came back clear, and was discharged from hospital after a night under observation.
“Very thankfully everyone onboard the boat was okay; that’s the most important thing,” New Zealand co-chief executive and wing trimmer Blair Tuke said.
“Since then, we’ve realised the damage to Amokura is pretty significant.”
It was hoped the damage to the vessel wouldn’t be too bad and could be fixed before the event in Sydney, but SailGP have confirmed that is not the case, with the damage warranting a full review and repair.
Tuke said while the only visible damage to the vessel was where the lightning struck the 29m wing, it wasn’t long before the team realised all of the electronics onboard were “fried” and the hydraulics had been impacted by the strike as well.
New Zealand SailGP co-chief executive and wing trimmer Blair Tuke. Photo / Photosport
While some undamaged components are being shipped to Sydney for the next event, the vessel will instead be shipped back to the SailGP Technologies site in Warkworth where it will undergo full stress testing for structural damage, as well as a hydraulic and electrical refit.
“Every component on the boat had seen a lot of current, then over the coming days in Singapore, more and more things started to pop up,” Tuke said.
“We already know the hydraulics and electronics are going to need a full refit, but the real critical part is how the structure has handled it. A carbon fibre boat with an aluminium core, it’s hard to determine exactly how much damage that has faced.”
The New Zealand team will now be racing on Team Canada’s F50 — referred to as ‘boat six’ — for the Australian leg of the series, with the Canadians set to get a new boat.
Unlike in the America’s Cup where the varied design of each team’s boat can be a major source of ascendancy for a team, SailGP races a one-design foiling catamaran, so the change is unlikely to cause too many disruptions to how well the Kiwis have been sailing so far this year.
The New Zealand SailGP Team in action during the event in Denmark. They won every race of the event. Photo: Bob Martin/SailGP
In fact, they will be the third team to race on the vessel, after the Canadians inherited the boat from the Japanese team who were forced to withdraw from the season due to only nine boats being available for a 10-team fleet.
“We’re pretty fortunate that the league had a spare boat; that boat 10 was finished and sitting in Warkworth,” Tuke said.
“We’re still a little bit unsure as to what components we’ll be racing with; being a one-design fleet, all the foils, rudders, wings, everything is the same, so we’re going to be in a combination of boat six and parts of Amokura.
“That’s one of the cool things about SailGP. When you’re lining up there, you know you’re racing against a boat that’s exactly the same as yours. The paint job’s going to be a little bit different, but the speed of the boat and how we control it is going to be identical.”
The new boat was always being built for the Canadians and they are expected to sail on it for the rest of the season. The New Zealand team is now hopeful they will be back sailing Amokura in their home regatta in Lyttelton, with the two-day event beginning on March 18.
