A devil of a Burling, he wins the SailGP and also does the Fastnet
Black Foils, owned by Peter Burling, former helmsman of Emirates Team New Zealand in the America's Cup and now the Kiwi team's point man in the SailGP, took victory in the Portsmouth GP (20,000 spectators, according to the organizers), sending New Zealand to the top of the 2025 season standings on the flying catamaran circuit (12 teams), ahead of Australia's Bonds Flying Roos, owned by Tom Slingsby, and Spain, owned by Diego Botin.
The German Grand Prix is now on the horizon, in Sassnitz, on August 16th and 17th. For Burling, however, first—at the end of the month—is the Rolex Fastnet Race, the most important race in the Admirals' Cup, with which organizer Royal Ocean Yacht Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The Kiwi helmsman will be aboard the 32-meter maxi trimaran SVR-Lazartigue, along with skipper Tom Laperche and navigator Franck Cammas. The boat holds the race's multihull speed record.
According to the organizers, 20,000 people will be at the Portsmouth GP.
The Portsmouth race
Returning to Portsmouth, Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team, led by Dylan Fletcher, took second place, while Sebastian Schneiter's Swiss SailGP Team finished third. The Australians followed, with Red Bull Italy fifth, having scored two third-place finishes and one second place in the seven fleet races.
"This is our best result so far," said Italian helmsman Ruggero Tita. " We've brought home some good finishes, proving we can be competitive. However, we need to work on consistency : we have some very positive moments, but when we find ourselves further back in the fleet, we struggle to catch up. We like strong wind conditions; in Portsmouth, with so many waves, it was a bit more difficult to manage the boat, especially in the flight phase, where we know we still have room for improvement."
"Coming into Sunday with a chance of making the final and finishing fifth overall is a clear sign of the progress we've made – especially considering we're the team with the fewest hours on the water," added Red Bull Italy CEO Jimmy Spithill.
Mills's paper
Speaking at the pre-event press conference, double Olympic champion Hannah Mills, when asked about her plans beyond the British team for which she is strategist, replied that she was “working” with former British helmsman and now CEO Ben Ainslie on his aspirations to launch a new and “own” SailGP franchise team.
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