Peter Burling reckons the timing has worked out perfectly.
After weeks of intensive repair work, the Black Foils brought Amokura back onto the Waitematā Harbour this afternoon, completing their first on-water systems checks ahead of the Auckland event, with New Zealand cricketer Kane Williamson along for the occasion. Photographer Roger Mills was on hand to capture the Kiwi crew putting Amokura through its paces, having wrapped up the final stages of the rebuild just hours earlier.
Burling was candid about the conditions greeting them on the water. "I think we're pretty glad today's not our first day of racing to be honest. It looks a little bit bleak out there. But yeah, tomorrow the forecast looks absolutely epic."
The grey, gusty afternoon was never intended as a performance run. With Amokura's structural rebuild completed at C-Tech in Avondale, the session was squarely about putting steering, hydraulics, foil control, and electronics under load to confirm everything was functioning as it should.
Burling is already relishing what race day could look like on home waters. "Reasonably strong, kind of south-wester. So that'll be pretty special seeing all 13 boats reaching into this massive grandstand above us here. We're absolutely stoked to be racing again on home waters."
The figure of 13 boats carries real significance. Spain was unable to compete in Perth, meaning Auckland will be the first event this season where all 13 SailGP teams line up on the same start line together. Getting to that point required a mid-season rebuild effort that stretched across Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts spoke to the effort at today's press conference. "Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the Shared Services team, SailGP Technologies, did an amazing job. And then we've had incredible support from local company C-Tech in helping make the repairs and supply not only the facilities to do it, but help us with the labour as well. So it's been a monumental effort. But they'll be back on the start line this weekend."
