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SAILGP
“Personally I’m blown away by how we got a penalty in that situation,’’ New Zealand driver Peter Burling said.
A frustrated Peter Burling had a dig at the umpires for issuing a controversial penalty against his New Zealand team on the first day of the SailGP event on the Port of Los Angeles on Sunday (NZT).
New Zealand sits seventh on the leaderboard after a fourth, fifth and tenth-place finish. With just two fleet races on Monday they face a difficult task to qualify for the final, to be contested by the three top teams.
Driver Burling said he was “blown away” by decision to penalise his boat. The umpires deemed the New Zealanders didn’t give enough room at the mark to Jimmy Spithill’s USA vessel, as they rounded the fourth gate, which forced the Kiwis to drop from second to fifth in the second race.
“Personally I’m blown away by how we got a penalty in that situation,’’ Burling said.
“I spoke to Jimmy [Spithill] who our penalty was against and he didn’t even know it was on us. I think the umpires need to have a little look at themselves after that and how they can make better decisions going forward.”
It was a brutal call and ended the New Zealanders’ hopes of threading their way through the field.
They were expected to be one of the most dangerous teams on the water, but they never got close to matching their deeds from the first event in Chicago last month.
In Chicago the New Zealand team was the victor. In Los Angeles they were among the battlers on the tightest course mapped for a SailGP event, with the race taking place in a confined space inside the breakwater.
The New Zealanders will probably have to win at least one race to qualify for the final.
It’s going to be a tough task. Truth be known, they may also need several of the other foiling 50-foot catamarans to suffer misfortune. And given the fluctuating winds that all 10 teams were forced to master on Sunday, anything is possible.
SAILGP
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke will hope for an easier day on the water on the second day of racing. FILE PHOTO
It was a shock to see the New Zealand boat struggle in the third race, reduced by one leg to seven, because of the light winds.
“In race three, the breeze dropped right off,” Burling said. “We probably took a bit too much risk trying to get foiling on that first reach and ended up off the back of the pack.”
The sight of the boats struggling to gain speed in the light breezes brought back memories of Chicago, when they slowed down to a crawl.
“It’s an awesome race course here,’’ Burling added. “It’s so cool having the top marks so close to the fans on shore. It would definitely be pretty tight if we got 20 knots, but with conditions like we had in those first two races today it was absolutely perfect.”
SAILGP/Stuff
Australian ace sailor Tom Slingsby would have been pleased with his team’s efforts in Los Angeles. FILE PHOTO
The New Zealanders made the worst possible start to their first race and trailed the field before making their presence felt on the fourth leg, when they clawed their way into sixth place.
It was an impressive fightback from the Kiwis as they salvaged a potentially disastrous situation, and passed Canada on the last leg to finish fourth.
Australia was excellent, meanwhile, overhauling Great Britain to claim maximum points and record an average speed of 51kmph. The New Zealand team, which averaged 47.6kmph, finished .51sec behind the leading boat.
Overall points: Australia 26, Great Britain 24, Denmark 24, Spain 22, Canada 18, United States 14, New Zealand 14, France 10, Germany 7, Switzerland 6.
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