{"id":272954,"date":"2025-07-18T20:39:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T20:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/272954\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T20:39:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T20:39:14","slug":"sailgp-great-britain-peter-burling-reflects-on-black-foils-breakthrough-ahead-of-return-to-great-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/272954\/","title":{"rendered":"SailGP Great Britain: Peter Burling reflects on Black Foils\u2019 breakthrough ahead of return to Great Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt obviously took us a little while to get that under our belt, so I think it was a [really] nice breakthrough milestone for the team and we went on a really good run of form from there,\u201d Black Foils driver Peter Burling<\/a> told the Herald. <\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely [have] some super fond memories of that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Black Foils are currently third in the SailGP season five standings. Photo \/ SailGP<\/p>\n

Since that first win, the New Zealand<\/a> crew have become one of the top teams in the global foiling series; appearing in the three-team grand final shootout in seasons three and four, while currently sitting third in season five just two points off the lead. <\/p>\n

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Despite incorporating some new personnel into the team with Sam Meech joining in a coaching role and Leo Takahashi replacing Andy Maloney as flight controller, the Kiwis made a fast start to the season by winning the opening event in Dubai. <\/p>\n

However, a string of frustrating results followed, where poor execution and issues with their boat saw them finish fourth in Auckland before tying a career-worst by finishing eighth in Sydney. <\/p>\n

They have bounced back with two top-three finishes across the three American legs of the series and will look to continue that momentum as they begin the European swing. <\/p>\n

Reflecting on how far the team has come since that first win, Burling said it was incredible to see how the level has risen across the fleet. <\/p>\n

Discover more\"AndyAndy Maloney (right) joined SailGP newcomers Brazil as their flight controller for season five. Photo \/ SailGP<\/p>\n

\u201cThe benchmark just keeps getting pushed further and further out. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe way everyone\u2019s gotten so comfortable with the equipment and the margins for error from being at the front of the fleet to further back, I think if you put, well definitely ourselves 1752871154 back then, you\u2019d win pretty comfortably, but probably a lot of the top six, I think, would absolutely smash it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s just incredible to see the way the league\u2019s progressing and the level across the board is just going up so quickly. For us, that target\u2019s obviously making sure you continue to build so you get into the final in Abu Dhabi [in November], and then you\u2019ve got a shot of winning the season championship. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, that\u2019s very much the target, making sure we\u2019re the best team we can be. Well, firstly, making sure you make it into the final, but making sure we\u2019re the best team we possibly can be by then. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been super exciting to have a few changes this year and get that fresh energy into the group, but then obviously with that takes a bit of a building phase, and we\u2019re really excited by the way we\u2019ve been building and gaining momentum. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe obviously had a few challenges throughout the year with a few issues with the gear etc, but I\u2019m really excited by the way the group\u2019s building.\u201d <\/p>\n

AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n

Christopher Reive<\/b><\/a> joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt obviously took us a little while to get that under our belt, so I think it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[15974,16431,186,37600,57381,748,103405,365,393,251,9369,103406,14728,4884,9986,103407,1144,3577,254,13037,50094,26335,80478,14995,712,17289,6093,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-272954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-across","11":"tag-ahead","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-black","14":"tag-breakthrough","15":"tag-britain","16":"tag-burling","17":"tag-denmark","18":"tag-england","19":"tag-finally","20":"tag-finish","21":"tag-foils","22":"tag-great","23":"tag-great-britain","24":"tag-line","25":"tag-moment","26":"tag-northern-ireland","27":"tag-of","28":"tag-on","29":"tag-peter","30":"tag-reflects","31":"tag-return","32":"tag-sailgp","33":"tag-sailing","34":"tag-scotland","35":"tag-their","36":"tag-to","37":"tag-uk","38":"tag-united-kingdom","39":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114876171217667235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}