After a big 12 months in the America’s Cup and SailGP arenas, Blair Tuke tees it up at the Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club with Christopher Reive to discuss what has been and what is yet to come.
Blair Tuke has more to give.
It’s a realisation the Kiwi sailor came to after helping Emirates Team New Zealand to a third consecutive America’s Cup win in Barcelona last year – and one that shapes the next couple of years of his life.
“Barcelona was certainly a great event for us. If I think back, of all the last three America’s Cups, it was our most complete performance, I think; right from the boat design, engineering build through to how we raced at the end,” Tuke says as we await our 8.20am tee time at the Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club on a beautiful – albeit windy – winter’s day.
“We came under a lot of pressure; Ineos were a strong competitor, but we were up for the challenge and [I’m] just really proud of the whole group, how we came together and put that performance together.
“It seems like a distant memory now. That was back in October, a lot has happened since – both in SailGP and America’s Cup, but that was an awesome moment for the team, that’s for sure.”
Earlier in the year, the 35-year-old signed on for a fourth campaign with Team New Zealand and will again be a core member of the group who will be tasked with defending the Auld Mug – this time in Naples in 2027.
“I think, simply, I felt like I had more to give. It’s not a small commitment and I took my time after the Cup in Barcelona,” Tuke says.
“As the SailGP league grows, our roles within the Black Foils and leading our team in that is no small commitment either – it’s where a lot of our focus is. But as a sailor, I still felt like I had more to give to the team to help try and win for a fourth time, and I want to try and leave the team in a place where we’ve got a new group of younger sailors coming through.
“I felt that wasn’t the time to step away because that part of the job wasn’t done yet, so that’s certainly a big driver for me coming back this time to try [to] help that new group come through and set the team up for success in the future.”
Tuke is no stranger to success – three America’s Cups, several SailGP regatta wins with the Black Foils, Olympic medals and World Championships decorate his resume – but he admits he’s somewhat out of his comfort zone on the golf course, having picked up the sport properly after the Barcelona triumph.
“It’s very, very humbling – as you’ll see today. But I like being put outside my comfort zone and the golf course definitely does that.”
As we approach the first tee, he asks what sort of level he’s up against. With my handicap in the low 20s, I assure him he’ll fit right in. He starts with back-to-back pars on the Tāmaki nine; not a bad shot was played.
The day is a fitting reflection of the busy schedule Tuke keeps. Following our nine holes, he has a commitment with Live Ocean, the conservation foundation he and Peter Burling launched in 2019. He then has a media obligation, in his role as Black Foils co-chief executive – a role he shares with Burling – and wing trimmer, to announce SailGP’s return to Auckland in February 2026.
Tuke is a man with many balls in the air, but as he has shown over the past decade, he’s learnt how to juggle.
For his respective roles with Team NZ and the Black Foils, he again feels that his work across the two formats will complement one another.
“I think it’d be fair to say that as a sport, it’s still in the growing stages of figuring out exactly where both these – the league and the America’s Cup – sit. It’s positive, though, that if both of them are successful, the sport’s more successful.
“I’m confident in my own position that I can obviously lead the Black Foils with Pete, both from our roles on the water but also bigger part of that is how we lead the team as co-CEOs and work towards financial stability and standing on our own two feet, which is a big driver. Also continuing to be, or hopefully, standing on top of the podium at the end of the year, but continuing to be one of the top teams on the water is a big driver – and then like we’ve just talked about, my role within Team NZ and helping that team to lift the trophy for a fourth time.
“I’m really confident in the next two to three years and the thought [that’s] gone into how they’re going to combine and work together in a positive way.”
As he mulls over his options with his ball nestled in the thick rough on the par-five third, it’s clear Tuke embraces a challenge.
“I might just take a drop out of here anyway. Nah, I can hit that. F*** it.”
While his subsequent attempt to hack that ball out is unsuccessful and he eventually settles for a triple-bogey eight, the thought of helping guide the next generation through the ranks and the challenges on his horizon across his different roles are exciting propositions.
Casting an eye to the start of that process becomes more in line with the round, as Tuke finishes up as strong as he started – with a birdie on the par-five ninth; albeit shortened due to cart path maintenance that also saw the eighth hole out of action.
It still shows up on the card as a par-five and, as I also made it in four, no one is going to argue otherwise.
Through eight holes, we both shoot 43.
As for the future on the water, Tuke believes there had been “a little bit of a void” in young sailors coming through but says New Zealand sailing is in a good place now and he is confident in the depth of talent.
“I think what we’re seeing now is some very talented younger sailors, and that’s, I think, in part due to how foiling has changed the sport,” he says.
“When we came in and the group that we had, we were really at the forefront of it and took it on. Then there was a bit of a void as [to] what classes you sailed to get into the Olympics, America’s Cups, SailGP, all of that took place. But now it feels like those younger sailors that have taken it on from an early age – they’ve sailed the moths, you see people at 12-13 wing-foiling around, going 30 knots – they’re certainly lifting the game.
“I’m really confident that this younger pool of guys and girls are going to take New Zealand sailing to a new level across all disciplines in the future.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.