There are not many moments in competitive sailing when a boat's return to the water feels like a victory in itself. For the New Zealand SailGP team, the relaunch of Amokura in Auckland is exactly that.
The Black Foils' F50 had been out of action since sustaining significant structural damage at the season-opening SailGP event in Perth. What followed was, by any measure, the biggest mid-season repair effort ever undertaken in the history of SailGP, a logistical undertaking that stretched across three countries and demanded round-the-clock coordination over a matter of weeks.
The damage at Perth went well beyond anything that could be patched in place. The stern structure required full replacement, forcing the team into a complex repair programme under serious time pressure. The forward hull section was containerised on site and shipped directly to New Zealand, while SailGP Technologies in the United Kingdom built a completely new transom from scratch. Once that component was complete, it was flown to Auckland to meet the original hull.
The task of bringing those two major sections together fell to C-TECH, the Auckland composite specialists based in Avondale. Working alongside SailGP's own technical crew, the team carried out the structural bonding, composite blending and finishing work needed to unite the new transom with the existing hull. The tolerances involved left no room for error. Only once that phase was signed off could the team move into reassembly, reinstalling and recalibrating the steering systems, hydraulics, control linkages and electronics.
At this morning's relaunch, SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts took the opportunity to formally acknowledge the contribution C-TECH and their team had made to getting Amokura back on the water. He recognised both the scale of the job and the compressed timeline the team had been required to meet in order to keep the Black Foils' racing programme on track.
Watching Amokura settle back into the Waitematā Harbour brought that structural chapter to a close. Attention now shifts to the operational side of recommissioning. Before any performance sailing can take place, the team must complete controlled systems checks covering steering response, foil control, hydraulic pressure and electronic communications. Germany and Spain have already worked through their own recommissioning sessions following similar processes. Auckland's weather is presenting some complications, with unsettled conditions, strong winds and a moderate lightning risk all requiring careful management around available launch windows. Subject to those conditions improving, Amokura is expected to complete a short tuning sail to confirm all core systems are functioning correctly.
The repair effort has touched down in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The finishing work has been done locally, under real pressure, and to the standards that elite F50 racing demands.
Amokura is afloat. The focus now is racing.
