Burling beats the British again, skippering the Black Foils to victory in SailGP’s season opener

Peter Burling skippered the New Zealand Black Foils to victory in SailGP’s season-opening regatta in Dubai on Sunday, once again beating a British crew as he did in winning his third straight America’s Cup a month ago.

Burling aggressively squeezed his 50-foot foiling catamaran inside Emirates Great Britain and its new helmsman, Dylan Fletcher, going through the fourth gate to take the lead. The tight move was green-flagged by the umpires and the Black Foils sailed well ahead to win the podium race. Taylor Canfield steered the United States to third place aboard its catamaran now painted the same color as the Statue of Liberty.

In a shocker, opening-day leader Tom Slingsby of Australia missed the podium race. The Aussies had a bad start in the final fleet race, couldn’t pick their way through the competitors in light air aboard the Flying Roo and finished 10th among the 11 crews.

Burling skippered Emirates Team New Zealand to a 7-2 win against INEOS Britannia in the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona in October. Fletcher co-helmed the British boat along with Sir Ben Ainslie, who is CEO and co-owner of the British SailGP team.

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Free agency led to numerous crew changes throughout the fleet in tech billionaire Larry Ellison’s global league. The Kiwis were sailing with new flight controller Leo Takahashi after veteran Andy Maloney jumped to the new Brazilian team.

“Awesome play from the group,” Burling said. “I mean, as a new team to get to the final this week, it’s one of the hardest things in this light air. And we really pulled it out and got a great start and hit it right at mark one.”

There were multiple lead changes before the Kiwis took control for their second straight season-opening win and third straight win in the UAE.

Fletcher was making his debut as the British skipper after Giles Scott signed with Canada.

“It was great to get into the final and we gave it everything we had,” Fletcher said. “At one point we thought we had done enough to take the Kiwis, but they did a good job to find some pressure and get ahead. I’m very thankful for the team getting me around the race course and making it easy for me.”

Canfield tried to dive inside Fletcher rounding the final mark before the short sprint to the finish, but was penalized and had to finish behind the British.

The Americans welcomed back flight controller Hans Henken, who was knocked unconscious and seriously injured in a race in September 2023 when the catamaran crashed off its foils. Henken and skipper Ian Barrows won the Olympic bronze medal in the 49er class in August.

“Any event going on the podium is incredible, so it’s awesome to see how all the hard work we have put in is paying off,” Canfield said. “Everyone dug in deep and found a way to get better for today. That’s the goal and it just shows how driven, and that everyone’s got that fight in them — so yeah we are pumped.”

The next regatta is Jan 17-18 in Auckland, where the Black Foils will try to win in home waters for the second straight season.

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Bernie Wilson has covered sailing for The Associated Press since 1991.