The scenes that unfolded on the first day of racing at the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix this Saturday were hard to watch. In the third race it was in the expected powerful and gusty winds 20 seconds after the start, there was a serious collision between New Zealand's Black Foils with helmsman Peter Burling and DS Team France with driver Quentin Delapierre during the frantic chase to the first mark.
After the collision: two injured, two demolished boats
The New Zealanders had initially lost control of their boat at a high speed of almost 90 km/h. They had flown very high. They had flown very high. This can cause the boats to slide sideways. The driver then steers against it. The typical consequence: when the boat comes back down, the current is also back on. This often happens when the rudder is turned to the maximum right. The boat regains full grip and stops.
At a similar speed to the New Zealanders, the French had no chance of evading the situation. Their port foil hit the deck of the New Zealand catamaran from behind not far from the grinder positions. The foil followed and caused visible destruction in the hull area of the grinder positions. Worse still were the injuries to the sailors. However, no details were initially released.
First there was talk of one injured person in the New Zealand team, then two injured - one person in each team. The league announced in an initial statement: "The race was cancelled after a serious collision between New Zealand and France on the first day of the Auckland SailGP. Two athletes were treated for injuries but are in a stable condition. All other crew members were on board after the accident."
Team Germany: two weak starts and a good chase to catch up
Following the collision, there was heated discussion on social media about the fact that too many boats were sailing too small a course in the strong winds. This recurring SailGP debate was fuelled by the crash. After the cancellations at the season opener in Perth, this Saturday in Auckland was the first time in SailGP history that all 13 F50 foilers were in action in a race. This will no longer be the case on the second of the two race days in view of the boats demolished in the crash.
Although the Kiwis had taken the lead in the classification in Auckland ahead of DS Team France (2/3) and Bonds Flying Roos (1/4) until the collision and the cancellation of the third race soon afterwards and then the entire race day with a third place and a victory in race two, they will not be able to continue the Auckland SailGP. The "Amokura", which has just been repaired after the collision with the Swiss in Perth, is so badly damaged that it cannot be repaired quickly.
The Germany SailGP Team by Deutsche Bank started the Auckland SailGP with a fifth and a last place with varying success. After starting from the second row, they managed to catch up well in the first race on Valentine's Day, but in the second race helmsman Erik Kosegarten-Heil, strategist Anna Barth and their four team-mates had to give way to the entire fleet. After that, Schwarz-Rot Gold was initially in eighth place.
Nothing decided yet at the Auckland SailGP
"The starts were bad. That was the only thing. We then communicated well in the first race and avoided all these chaotic situations. We were on the right track. In the second race, we let ourselves get dragged into a bit of chaos, which wasn't so good. But everything is still open for tomorrow," said helmsman Erik Kosegarten-Heil. He continued: "The conditions were manageable at 15 to 18 knots, but super gusty. The course was also pretty gnarly with its slightly skewed axis. The windward gate was close to the grandstand, which always caused a massive wind hole there."
The Danish team Rockwool Racing, which had just been bought by American Magic, was in sixth place after the shortened first day of racing and 6th and 7th places. The British 2025 season champions will start the next races from fifth place after finishing 11th and second. Behind them in the top three, Spain's Los Gallos had also come through the difficult day in fourth and sixth place overall. Here are the intermediate results after the first of the two race days at the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix.
