“This weather had been on the cards for a couple of days. We saw it on the forecast on Thursday and into day one of racing, so we kind of had the mindset yesterday that we want to put our best foot forward with it being a chance that this could happen.
“Really proud of the way the team raced yesterday. As always, there’s points or moments where you think if we’d just done that or one decision or one handling of the boat we could have easily won this regatta, but every team probably had the same story.”
They move ahead of Australia on the season leaderboard, after Tom Slingsby’s crew had an uncharacteristically mediocre showing on day one to finish the event fifth.
It’s the second time in as many seasons the Black Foils have only sailed one day in the French event, after their wingsail imploded after day one’s racing in the season four event and they were forced to retire from the event.
The league has had a run-in with thunderstorms in the past, with the Black Foils F50 foiling catamaran being struck by lightning after they won the season three event in Singapore.
Because the Black Foils won that event, they were not on the boat at the time of the strike. However, members of other teams were helping to get transport the boat back to shore and Danish grinder Martin Kirketerp sustained an electric shock and required medical assistance before being discharged from hospital the following day.
The vessel was damaged by the strike and the Kiwis had to borrow a boat for the following event. The league has not been back to Singapore since.
It shows the importance of racing well on day one of regattas.
Day one was erratic, with a wide range of results across the fleet, but the Black Foils were relatively consistent to finish fifth, first, third and fifth in the four races.
Importantly for the Black Foils, they got off the starting line well in all but the last race.
Running the same tactic of winding up from deep in the starting box and threading through the fleet to hit the starting line at pace, they were challenging for the lead early in the first two races.
They looked set to do so again in the third but were forced wide at the first mark by the Spanish team and settled mid-fleet.
They did well throughout the day to find passing lanes and raced aggressively to try to make up positions.
The league will be back in action next weekend, with its debut outing on Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
