Black Foils back in familiar territory with strong start in Portsmouth

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Author: Christopher Reive,
Publish Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2026, 8:46am

The Black Foils are back in familiar territory.

Heading into this weekend’s SailGP regatta in Portsmouth, England, it had been an unusual campaign for the New Zealand team.

A couple of crashes in the first two events of the season, followed by a long delay to get back on the water, the Kiwis showed positive signs in their return last month to finish fifth in Halifax, Canada.

But back in what has historically been a happy hunting ground for the team, the Black Foils made a strong start to the regatta in Portsmouth.

The Kiwis ended the day sitting at the top of the leaderboard for Group A, with the top two teams in the two groups after fleet racing going on to contest the four-boat final on Monday morning.

After sailing in the split format in Halifax, SailGP announced they would be committing to it for the rest of the season ahead of the Portsmouth regatta, with Group A comprised of seven teams and Group B of six.

It’s a move that comes after several crashes during the season and, if opening day in Portsmouth was any indication, was a smart decision. With fewer boats on the course together, racing was much more open and things weren’t decided off the starting line in great racing conditions.

Which was a good thing for the Black Foils because, in two of their three fleet races on Sunday morning, they were among the last couple of teams to get onto the course proper.

The team have never been daunted by the prospect of having to make up places during the race and, with more space on the course with fewer boats, the Black Foils enjoyed having room to move.

In race one, they had moved into third midway through the race, before losing out in a good duel with Spain through the final legs and ultimately finishing fourth.

It was a similar scene early in race two after Australia forced the Kiwis wide at the start and they were slow off the line.

They did, however, cut in early in the sprint to the first mark and did well to salvage something early to sit mid-fleet.

It was a great third leg that set the Black Foils up, drawing a penalty on Italy around the mark before clawing their way up to third. They then benefitted from Spain and Canada jostling for the lead on the penultimate leg. A mistake saw the Canadian’s fall off their foils around the final mark, giving the Black Foils a free shot at second place.

In their final race of the day, it was a perfect display from the Kiwis.

The first boat over the starting line, that set the Black Foils up to lead after the first-leg sprint and they could not be caught from there.

With 11 points from the day, the Black Foils held a one-point lead over Canada at the top of the table, with Spain in the hunt a further point back in third.

In Group B, Artemis Sweden finished the day at the front on 13 points, ahead of the United States on 11 and Switzerland on nine.

Racing will continue with up to two fleet races for each group on Monday morning, before the four-boat final.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.