With the SailGP fleet set to be cast into a state of flux, Peter Burling is content to sit back and watch things unfold.
This month, the league’s fifth season will conclude with its grand final in Abu Dhabi, where the top three teams will compete in a one-race shootout for the season title. Burling and the Black Foils head into the event second on the leaderboard and in prime position to qualify for that race as one of just four teams able to qualify, alongside Great Britain, Australia and Spain.
But it’s what comes after the grand final that has the potential to shake up the league as the transfer market opens up.
The New Zealanders were among those hit by new teams looking to fill out their rosters after season four, with flight controller Andy Maloney being signed by the Brazilians. In his place, the Black Foils signed Leo Takahashi on a three-season deal. The Herald understands all existing members of the team also signed multi-year deals at the same time.
With former Japan driver and current Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Nathan Outteridge leading a Swedish team joining the fleet in 2026, it is expected a similarly active transfer period will ensue.
“We’ve kind of taken a different strategy to a lot of the other teams after losing Andy last year,” Black Foils driver and co-chief executive Burling told the Herald.
“We’ve got all our sailors on more long-term deals, you’d say, so it’s been nice to be able to sit back and watch things unfold a little bit. It’s been incredible how much movement there’s been around the teams, so it’s going to be interesting to see how next season shapes up.
“I think it’s going to be something that just gets more and more interesting as time goes on with, obviously, more teams entering the league the following year and the, I suppose, depth of all the people that have a lot of experience on the F50 hasn’t grown massively.
“It’s going to be something that’s definitely going to be an important part of seasons ahead.”
Outteridge being at the helm of the new team has fuelled plenty of speculation around who he might try to bring into his crew, given he has plenty of experience sailing with a number of sailors across the fleet.
The new crew will be in action when SailGP returns to Auckland in mid-February, which could make things very interesting in terms of space on the course. The league mooted a move to a split-fleet format for season six, but was hoping to add two new teams to maintain an even number. With 13 teams on the starting line next year, it remains to be seen how the league will navigate race days.
With the league running the season within a calendar year in 2026, Auckland has been shifted from January to February and will be the second event after Perth.
And while the 2025 regatta served up plenty of highlights, ultimately seeing the Australians win and the Black Foils finish fourth, Burling was confident next season would build on that.
“[This] year we we’re obviously finding [our way] in our new configuration a little bit. We had a couple of technical issues, really it was the first time we’d used the T-Foils, and just coming together as a group,” Burling said.
“We learned a lot there, but I think we’ve continued that improvement throughout the season.
“Local knowledge, local conditions wise, I think you could get a massive range in Auckland, so it’s pretty unlikely you’ll see exactly the same thing again, but we really, really, feel comfortable at home and [are] looking forward to racing there again.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.