Rivals face off

Previously seen as the underdogs of the championship, the New Zealand team have come from finishing in fifth place overall in SailGP Season 2, to securing their first event win in Plymouth last month against Slingsby’s Australian side, who came in second place.

Tom Slingsby commented on the Kiwis performance in a press conference saying, “We knew New Zealand were lurking. They seem to finally be putting the puzzle pieces together and have become a big threat to us.”

The question has been raised as to how the New Zealand team has made significant gains from previous events, with New Zealand Driver Peter Burling putting it down to “not doing anything out of the ordinary but making small gains in every area.”

Slingsby challenged Burling’s comments in the press conference, suggesting that the Kiwis have made more changes than they’re publicly sharing.

Slingsby said, “Contrary to what Pete says, it looks like they did change their set-up. They were definitely sailing quite high and the look of the boat was different.