Blair Tuke is taking the positives where he can get them.
As Tuke and the Black Foils come into the second event of the SailGP season on home waters in Auckland this weekend, they find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being at the foot of the ladder.
The perennial championship contenders left the season opener in Perth with zero points to their credit, courtesy of a weekend-ending crash in the first race of the regatta. Their F50 foiling catamaran is, however, expected to be good to go for practice racing in Auckland on Friday afternoon.
But while the team come into their home event very lightly raced, Tuke said there was plenty to take away from the additional practice days the team had before their event was ended.
“They raced two good days in windy conditions, but in saying that, we trained really well in Perth and we were feeling like we were ahead of where we thought we might be or even in relation to the fleet, we were in a good place heading into Perth,” the Black Foils co-CEO and wing trimmer said.
“So we’re still confident off that, and we just have to try and take those learnings. We still learned how people were sailing the boat in Perth too, so we just try and take the learnings forward and then race as best we can.”
While a release from the Black Foils said the team had been docked three season points after being deemed at fault for the collision with Switzerland in Perth, the new SailGP penalty points system for season six meant this was not the case.
Past seasons would have seen the Black Foils dip into the negatives in their overall points tally after being deemed at fault for a major incident, as they were in Perth. However, SailGP officials made a change coming into the year that a team will only lose season points after a second contact or damage incident during an event.
That will ensure that one bad event doesn’t completely torpedo a team’s campaign. However, Tuke said that with 13 teams in the fleet and only the top 10 getting points, such incidents would likely see teams be out of the event points anyway.
“I think it’s in a good place, but the league needs to keep reviewing it and just see getting that balance right, I think. But it was definitely too harsh in prior years,” Tuke said.
“The end of last season for example, you know, there weren’t any big crashes as I recall, but there could be teams that race really well but you only ever got out to a 10- or 15-point buffer, and at any point if you had a small crash or what resulted in any sort of big structural damage, you could end up that whole thing wiped.
“It happened to Australia two seasons ago, so that was always playing on teams’ minds as you went forward. Does that now mean that teams will take more risk? I don’t think so, because you want to try and score the best you can on event weekend anyway, and having a crash like we did, it’s not an ideal situation. We’re 10 points behind where we could be, so that there’s already quite a large penalty already.”
With a bit more time on their hands this year than during last year’s regatta in Auckland, where they were bringing the high-speed T-Foils online and spending much more time on the water, Tuke said he had been enjoying getting to enjoy a regatta at home.
As part of engaging with the community, he and Blues hooker Kurt Eklund were giving away ice cream and roses to the public passing by Duck Island’s Britomart store on Wednesday afternoon as a cross-promotion for the teams’ respective assignments this weekend, coinciding with Valentine’s Day.
“It reminded me of selling raffle tickets to get overseas for sailing when I was younger. You have to have some real confidence to come up to people in the street,” Tuke quipped.
“But it’s good. I really enjoyed the collaboration with Kurt and the Blues guys, and I think it’s something hopefully we do more of in sports teams in Auckland and around NZ across different codes, working together or doing fun things together. I think it’s good for all sport.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.