SailGP Team New Zealand

New Zealand are the best team in SailGP without a championship trophy to prove it. Peter Burling's Black Foils have now made three Grand Finals, consistently delivered across full seasons, and would already be champions under any traditional points format. Except SailGP crowns its winner through a single three-boat final race. They finished third in Season 4 when they led on points, then third again for Season 5 when they were second on points. Same result, same heartbreak, and the same question: what more can you do when an entire season comes down to a 15 minute race?

The pattern is brutally consistent. New Zealand bank podium finishes through the calendar, deliver ruthless starts and make fewer unforced errors than most. They won the opening event in Dubai in Season 5, beat Emirates GBR at Portsmouth in front of packed Solent crowds to reclaim the championship lead, then watched it slip away through the European leg. They entered Abu Dhabi as one of three finalists – second on season points behind GBR – with every reason to believe this would finally be their year. Emirates GBR executed perfectly, Australia finished second, and the Kiwis went home third. For many SailGP teams it would be a dream result. For the Black Foils, it's a crushing disappointment.

Co-CEOs Pete Burling and Blair Tuke – the only sailors in history to win an Olympic medal and America's Cup in the same year – run what should be a plug-and-play superteam dominating a one-design league. Around them sit Leo Takahashi at flight controller after Andy Maloney's defection to Brazil at the start of Season 5, and Liv Mackay, who won Strategist of the Season in 2024. That speed loop at the back of the boat – Burling, Tuke, Takahashi, Mackay – operates with the kind of intuitive communication that only comes from sustained time together. Marcus Hansen and Louis Sinclair provide the grinding power. Every part of the operation looks built for a dynasty.

Ahead of Season 6, the Black Foils avoided the winter transfer market, choosing continuity over change. It's a bet that cohesion and muscle memory matter more than fresh blood, especially when almost every other contender is bedding in new relationships. Over full seasons, they remain the reference team – high average finishes, clinical starts, standard-bearers in the Impact League through Live Ocean. On paper they've ticked every box. Yet none of that converts into a championship if you can't nail that winner-takes-all Grand Final. Will 2026 be the year Burling finally cracks the code and delivers New Zealand the title their season-long performances deserve?