New Zealand's Black Foils sit second in Group B after a demanding opening day of the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix on Lake Geneva, with two points covering the top four teams heading into Sunday's final qualifying races.
The Black Foils scored second, third and fourth places across three light-wind races to hold nine points, one behind Australia's BONDS Flying Roos. Emirates Great Britain and home team Explora Journeys Swiss are tied on eight points.
The team's most critical moment came in the day's final race. After rounding all four marks in sixth, they overtook Red Bull Italy and Canada's NorthStar on the approach to the finish to secure fourth place and two valuable points.
"All in all, it was a really good day," said co-CEO and wing trimmer Blair Tuke. "We were in the fight the whole time, with hardly any respite, just fighting for every metre. That last race was a case in point. We snuck from sixth into fourth right on the finish line for two really valuable points."
Tuke described the light, patchy conditions as among the most demanding in SailGP. "In my opinion, this racing is harder than pretty much all other conditions. It takes a lot of finesse and choreography between the crew to keep the boat sailing fast while making good decisions."
The Black Foils are racing with a reduced crew of four athletes in Geneva, with Peter Burling driving, Tuke on wing trimmer duties, Leo Takahashi as flight controller and Liv Mackay as strategist.
Tuke said the overnight debrief would focus on boat handling, decision-making and starts after one strong start and two more difficult ones left the team working to recover positions. The top two teams from each group advance to the four-boat final.
Across both groups, five races produced five different winners. ROCKWOOL Racing and Artemis each won in Group A's two races to sit level on six points.
Racing resumes at 3.30pm local time Sunday (1.30am Monday NZST).
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