Black Foils dominate practice day in Sassnitz

The Black Foils from New Zealand set the benchmark on the waters off Sassnitz, after a three-race practice session on Friday afternoon in marginal foiling conditions.

Pete Burling’s crew dominated Group A with a 1-1-2 record during official practice racing for the SailGP event in Germany. Spain finished second in the seven-boat fleet, recording 2-4-1.

New Zealand’s standout drive came in Race 2. After a sluggish start left them off the foils alongside several competitors, the Kiwis rounded Mark 1 in fifth place before carving through the fleet to secure victory, maintaining flight better than anyone in the patchy air.

Group B finished in a dead heat. Australia scored 1-5-1 to tally seven points, a total matched by Nathan Outteridge’s Swedish Artemis entry with 4-1-2. Outteridge took Race 2 after spotting a late opening near the windward end of the starting line, bearing away into a gap to lead at Mark 1 before extending his advantage. The bold manoeuvre proved that Outteridge is ready to pounce on short-lived openings - a style more commonly associated with the French or Spanish teams.

The windward end offered strong position but carried heavy risk; both Italy and Switzerland were shut out there in separate starts.

It’s easy to read too much into practice results. On Friday teams contended with marginal foiling conditions using the medium-sized 24-metre rig. The weekend forecast looks forward to some full-on conditions, prompting a likely shift to the smaller 18-metre wing. While offshore gusts over the stadium and Adrenaline Lounge will keep the breeze patchy near the start line, staying on the foils in the open course should pose little trouble.

Diego Botín’s Spanish team enters as my event favourite and a victory here would mark three in a row. The expansive Sassnitz racecourse offers a rare opportunity room for teams to stretch their legs and use some raw boat speed, which could work to the advantage of, say, Australia and possibly Great Britain into play if the British can recover from disappointing performances in Halifax and Portsmouth. With the season finale drawing ever closer, there are some other teams who know that they will need to get on the podium this weekend if they’re to sustain any hope of reaching the big showdown in Abu Dhabi this November. They’ll need to show more than they did in today’s practice session, and topple some of the usual suspects who have set the early pace in Sassnitz.