This win means so much to us,” said the Australian skipper, Tom Slingsby, who acknowledged the notable contributions of his new wing trimmer, Chris Draper. “The team set us up so well. We had an amazing last race. It felt like we were fighting the British on the first leg, then the Spanish caught us on the final, upwind leg. They [Spain] had chosen to sort of concede and take a second, but they went for it and went for the win, but we managed to just get around them.” After mid-fleet results on the opening day and in Fleet Races 5 and 6, New Zealand’s Black Foils squad found their groove to finish second in Fleet Race 7, but it wasn’t enough to secure a spot in the Final. ROCKWOOL Denmark also
lost out in the battle for
third despite claiming back-to-back wins in Fleet Races 6 and 7. Skipper Nicolai Sehested and his teammates put up stellar performances in those races, putting their several years of experience in the F50 to good use and displaying confidence with the new foils and the high speeds that come with them.New Zealand driver Peter Burling said, “For us it was a really frustrating day. It felt like each day we really progressed forward during the day and got better and better as we got more comfortable, but it wasn’t quite enough. We’re really excited with the way the team is going—now, we just have to take the next event off the Aussies on their home turf.”
