Part of that plan includes the possibility that SailGP could take working components off the Black Foils\u2019 boat and use them to repair the French boat, given the Kiwi crew are not the priority team in the rebuild. <\/p>\n
In terms of cosmetic damage, the biggest concern for the French was that they lost the front of their left hull. However, it won\u2019t be clear just how much more damage was done to other components of the vessel until a proper assessment can be carried out in Southampton. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can take the left-hand side of the boat off the Kiwi boat and perhaps put it on the French boat. But we don\u2019t know what other damage there might be,\u201d Coutts said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to do a full analysis and non-destructive testing on some of those structures just to make sure that they weren\u2019t overloaded or damaged before you go out again. These boats are under pretty significant loads, so you\u2019ve got to check that everything\u2019s good to go before you head out and put it under load.\u201d <\/p>\n
Because the Black Foils are still owned by the league, SailGP will foot the bill for their repair, which Coutts said would cost the league \u201ca fair amount\u201d. For privately owned teams, the owners are expected to pay the cost of the repairs. <\/p>\n
For the Kiwi team, their second major crash of the campaign likely ends their hopes of a season championship, as they are going to miss further opportunities to score points.<\/p>\n
The Black Foils and France collided in the third race of the weekend in SailGP’s return to Auckland. Photo \/ Simon Bruty, SailGP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is they\u2019re probably out of the season standings now,\u201d Coutts said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate. They\u2019re obviously one of the top teams in the league and it\u2019s a tragedy that that\u2019s happened to them, but it\u2019s sport. Sometimes you get the unexpected and unwanted situations in sport. They\u2019re a good team, they\u2019ll come back. They\u2019ll come back and they\u2019ll learn from this and they\u2019ll build from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The league next hits the water in Sydney in two weeks, which is too tight a window for either boat to be back on the water, before SailGP makes its debut in Rio de Janeiro in April. That would be a hopeful timeline for the French returning to action. <\/p>\n
That is followed by Bermuda in mid-May and New York at the start of June. SailGP is currently building a new boat in preparation for its 14th team joining in 2027, and that is expected to be completed in June. <\/p>\n
\u201cEventually, the league will have two spare boats at every event, so if you had a situation like that, they would be racing the next day in a different boat, [we\u2019d] brand the boat up and so forth overnight,\u201d Coutts said. \u201dBut we\u2019re not at that level yet. We\u2019re still a relatively new sports property and we\u2019ve got to get to that point, but that\u2019s certainly what\u2019s in the works at the moment.\u201d <\/p>\n