The Brazil SailGP Team splashed down on the Hauraki Gulf.
The Brazil SailGP Team splashed down on the Hauraki Gulf.
Andy Maloney’s return to home waters has already been an eventful one.
The Kiwi flight controller and his Brazilian SailGP team had a scare during a training session this week, when they momentarily lost control of their F50 foiling catamaran.
The incident happened while the teamwere out for practice on the Hauraki Gulf early in the week, with the crew members thrown around the vessel as it splashed down at pace.
“We were sailing at full pace downwind off Takapuna Beach and I think we must have hit something small in the water,” Maloney told the Herald.
“It hit the port elevator on the outboard side and it ripped the wheel out of [driver] Martine [Grael]’s hands, which spun the boat into, like, a max-turn-rate 180 sort of turn, which ripped everyone off the side of the boat.
Brazil SailGP Team driver Martine Grael and flight controller Andy Maloney. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, SailGP
“[We’re] just super lucky no one was hurt and hopefully that doesn’t happen again.”
While it made for a spectacular splashdown, the boat was not damaged and the team have been impressive through their sessions since – performing well in the split-fleet trials on Thursday and Friday.
Australian helmsman Tom Slingsby noted the Brazilians had been looking fast during the week, as the teams all look to come to terms with the new T-Foils.
“It’s feeling good,” Maloney said of how things are going on the boat.
“I think for us, it is going to be the simple stuff like getting off the start line in good shape and then just executing clean manoeuvres from there and having the forethought to execute things early enough and not get caught out on the lines and mark endings and things like that.
“I’ve got no doubt once we’re up and flying in a straight line that we’re going to be really competitive, so it’s about doing the basics well and just executing.”
Andy Maloney joined the Brazil SailGP Team for season five after three campaigns with New Zealand's Black Foils. Photo / Brett Phibbs, SailGP
One of two new teams in the league this year, the Brazilians recruited a strong outfit – including luring Maloney over from New Zealand’s Black Foils.
It was a decision Maloney said was a tough one to make, but was the right one at this time in his career and he had the support of Black Foils chief executives Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
“Pete and Blair, they were super supportive throughout the entire decision-making process. They’re two of my best mates who I go to for advice on all of these big decisions in life.
“The Black Foils will always be my family but right now I’m here working hard for the Brazilian team trying to get them to the front of the league.”
In the season-opener in Dubai, Maloney and the Brazilians finished 10th of the 11 teams, besting fellow newcomers Italy on the leaderboard.
It was a starting point and Maloney believed the team would take another step in Auckland.
“The conditions here are totally different to Dubai; obviously, much harder conditions to sail the boat well in with the gusty, shifty, windier breeze.
“I think as a team, we’re going to have to build throughout the season, but we’ve got so much potential in the team and the ingredients are there to become one of the better teams in the league.
“We don’t want to put any limit on where we can get to, and for this event, for example, I wouldn’t want to cap our performance at anything other than trying to win.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
