SailGP Auckland: Black Foils strategist Liv Mackay on what team learned on tricky day of racing

The Black Foils learned some lessons about the Waitematā Harbour on the opening day of SailGP’s debut Auckland event.

Learning seems to have been the key theme across the week, with the teams coming to grips with the new high-speed href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/sailing/sailgp/sailgp-auckland-black-foils-blair-tuke-on-latest-fleet-upgrades-and-what-the-data-shows/QHQSKKAC65ATLJQ6WQAUWMQIWI/" rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/sailing/sailgp/sailgp-auckland-black-foils-blair-tuke-on-latest-fleet-upgrades-and-what-the-data-shows/QHQSKKAC65ATLJQ6WQAUWMQIWI/">T-Foils, while the league also trialled a split-fleet format in practice to learn how something like that might work for racing proper in the future.

But the learning didn’t stop when racing began yesterday afternoon as, for the first time in the past week, all 11 boats were on the course together and jostling for positions on the tight starting line.

For the Black Foils, it took some time to get going – starting poorly in the first three races of the weekend, but they were able to move through the fleet and salvage some points, before flying to victory in the fourth.

Reflecting on the day’s racing, New Zealand strategist Liv Mackay said there was plenty to take away from the venue’s introduction to the global foiling league.

“The harbour, as we can all see is quite compressed, so it was a very tricky racecourse; what we were expecting really, but a lot patchier,” Mackay said.

“We definitely made our lives a little bit complicated in the first three [races], but were always focused on chipping away at boats. Every point counts in this league, so we’re really stoked at how we came back through.

The Black Foils won the final race on day one of SailGP's Auckland debut. Photo / Felix Diemer, SailGP

“Then that last one with the breeze up, it made life a little bit easier and that good start. All in all a really good learning day about the harbour here and I think it’s in a similar direction tomorrow so looking to build on that.”

While the starting line is tight in Auckland and leading the fleet at the first mark goes a long way to winning the race, Mackay said there were plenty of opportunities for vessels to make up ground – be it from picking the shifts or capitalising on other teams’ mistakes.

The Black Foils did a good job of creating and taking opportunities during the day’s racing, salvaging a fourth-placed finish in race one and sixth in race three when they looked destined to be among the last boats across the line.

“It’s such a compressed course and because we have two laps, there are so many passing lanes, a lot of boat handling errors under the pressure. You see boats coming off the foils a lot and it was super shifty as well, so it’s all to play for. You can go from last to second in one leg, so we always have the mentality to push forward and Pete [Burling] is amazing at that. So yeah, always pushing,” Mackay said.

“Sam [Meech] in the coach’s booth and Josh [Junior] were really pushing always to have that positive further-forward mindset, and I think that really helps in those situations to think further up the beat.

“At the bottom of the course it looks super different to the top mark, so really trying to get ahead there and see the opportunity. We managed to capitalise on it a couple of times and that really saved us going into tomorrow.”

The Black Foils go into today’s racing sitting fourth on the overall leaderboard, just one point out of the top three. Australia had a consistent day on the water and led the way with 34 points, from Great Britain with 28 and Spain with 26.

Although the league held four races yesterday, there are still expected to be two fleet races before the podium race today.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.