The New Zealand Black Foils have named Matt Steven as head coach and Will McKenzie as booth operator ahead of the new SailGP season, a double appointment built on Olympic-class expertise.
Both men arrive directly from Yachting New Zealand, carrying deep experience in the 49er programme, a discipline that has become one of the most reliable pipelines into elite SailGP coaching and sailing talent globally. The connection between the two is well established. Steven coached McKenzie and Isaac McHardie through their silver medal-winning 49er campaign at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and that partnership now moves into the data-intensive, high-velocity world of SailGP.
In his new role, Steven takes responsibility for all aspects of high performance within the Black Foils setup, bringing Olympic-grade preparation, analytical rigour, and race-to-race refinement to the team. He steps into a position vacated by Sam Meech, who has moved across to the Artemis SailGP Team, while Jo Aleh has departed to take up a role with Emirates Team New Zealand.
McKenzie's position in the coaching booth is a natural extension of the qualities the 49er demands. Tactical clarity, rapid decision-making, and the ability to perform precisely under pressure are fundamental to that class, and those same attributes translate directly into SailGP's booth environment, where real-time data interpretation sits alongside instinct as a source of competitive advantage. Since the Paris Games, McKenzie has combined his sailing career with engineering studies, placing him at the crossroads of performance, systems thinking, and technology.
Black Foils co-CEOs Blair Tuke and Peter Burling have pointed to the strength of the team's 49er lineage, noting that six current members hold high-level backgrounds in the class. The appointments of Steven and McKenzie deepen that connection, reinforcing the 49er pathway's continuing influence on how SailGP teams are built and coached.
The pair join the Black Foils in Australia as the team prepares for the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix, bringing proven Olympic processes to one of professional sailing's most demanding arenas.
