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Peter Burling hit out at a “soft” umpire call that he believes left New Zealand hard done by and could have helped carry Canada to victory.
Canada were the surprise package of Sunday’s racing on Lyttelton Harbour when claiming a shock victory, their first-ever Sail GP final triumph and a special one for Kiwi driver Phil Robertson who also took out his first final victory in front of his family.
Burling said he wasn’t taking anything away from Canada’s first Sail GP win but he was definitely looking forward to “having another look at that one”.
With Australia going two from two in Sunday’s fleet races and New Zealand trailing them home in both, Canada were seemingly there just to fill the numbers. But they won the start and stormed to what was, at one stage, a giant lead.
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The Kiwis, who were second, caught up after a mistake from Canada on leg five and then seemed poised to take the lead when Robertson was handed a boundary penalty on the penultimate leg before the short sprint to the finish.
KAI SCHWOERER/Stuff
New Zealand finished second to Canada in the Sail GP final on Lyttelton Harbour.
“I’m still not quite sure what happened with that boundary penalty, it felt like the umpires were pretty soft on them there,” said Burling, the New Zealand driver.
“Looking across I didn’t think they were losing absolutely anything. You’re supposed to lose over two boat lengths which was pretty much what we were behind them.
“I thought we were a bit hard done by there, I thought we should have gained a bit more on that.
“I think that the umpires probably didn’t get the one right, but you’ve got to play to the whistle and that’s the call and we’ve got to live with it.
“It’s bittersweet, it would have been nice to win but we’re stocked with second.
ALDEN WILLIAMS/Stuff
New Zealand, Australia and eventual winners Canada get underway in the final.
“We’re gutted we couldn’t quite wrap it up, but it is what it is, that’s sport.”
Robertson was surprised the penalty call even came.
”I actually thought we would have been fine, so I was surprised to hear we got a penalty.
“It must have only been a couple of inches,” Robertson said.
Despite the controversial call Burling paid credit to Canada’s breakthrough win.
“They sailed a great race and deserved to win,” he said.
Second place in the final has helped consolidate the Kiwis’ spot in second on the Season 3 leaderboard, behind Australia, with the top three at the end of the next and final event in San Francisco, in early May, to contest the winner takes all US$1 million Season 3 final.
The Kiwi team felt they have made some major improvements and were ready to be a major factor at the season finale.
“We’re still stoked with our position heading into San Fran,” Burling said.
“I felt like we did a lot of things really well this weekend but there’s still a few little things to tidy up before San Fran, but it feels like the team is in great space to try and win the championship.
“When we put our best foot forward as well as we know we can, we’re pretty hard to beat.”
Season 3 overall standings: Australia 84 points, New Zealand 73, France 69, Great Britain 68, Denmark 60, Canada 59, USA 57, Switzerland 29, Spain 29.
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