The Black Foils needed to do so late in the regatta final in SailGP’s return to New York, but ultimately conceded to race and finished the event in second place.
In tricky, bumpy conditions, the New Zealand crew had performedwell throughout the day and in a tightly contested finish, they couldn’t quite get the better of the Spanish in the final.
The two shot away from the French in the three-boat podium race, but the Spanish were able to take control around the first marker and never relinquished the lead.
It left the Black Foils needing to try to make something happen late in the race, and they opted to make a tough turn to split the course at the antepenultimate marker. It wasn’t a clean turn, which saw them lose ground on the Spanish.
“It was a pretty solid race... a little bit too much risk on that last bottom mark,” Black Foils driver Peter Burling said.
“I think all in all, we’re really pleased with our weekend. We were solid all weekend. It wasn’t quite to be today but we gave it our all.”
The Black Foils did look like they had a chance of beating the Spanish to the second mark, and made the turn toward the gate before the Spanish, which Burling thought might have worked more in their favour given the proximity of the boats.
“I actually thought we should have got a penalty on them close to that bottom mark, so it’ll be interesting to go back and have a look at that one.”
Overall, it was a strong return to the water for the Black Foils following the league’s three-month break.
Heading into the second day of the regatta outside of the podium positions, the Black Foils made the charge early with a fourth-placed finish in the opening fleet race – recovering from being 10th at the halfway point.
They followed that up with a second-placed finish in the second, before the third – added to the schedule due to the more favourable conditions than seen on day one – saw them finish in fourth.
That saw the Black Foils qualify as the second-best team for the podium race, with France the top team after fleet racing.
But ultimately, the Spanish made the most of their fast start in the final to claim their second event win in a row and become the first team to take out two regattas this season.
Finishing second saw the Black Foils improve from fourth to third on the overall leaderboard as they now turn their attention to the busy European leg, which gets underway in England at the end of July.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
