SailGP Technologies in a battle with the clock to get the Black Foils team back on the start line for their home event in Auckland next month.
The SailGP circuit will see a return to New Zealand on 14-15 February for the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland, on Waitematā Harbour.
Focus here is on whether Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s Black Foils team can get their damaged F50 repaired in time, following their high-speed collision with the Swiss team at the recent Perth event.
A specialist team from SailGP Technologies has been working around the clock to rebuild the damaged Black Foils F50.
The impact caused catastrophic damage to the left-side hull of the Kiwi boat. Initial inspections and non-destructive testing revealed the F50’s critical structure remained intact, allowing SailGP Technologies to carry out a repair rather than replacing the entire platform.
The bulkhead, a key structural partition within the hull, was badly damaged, requiring an entirely new section of hull to be manufactured at SailGP’s state-of-the-art centre of innovation, design and engineering in Southampton UK, before being flown to New Zealand.
Multiple specialist teams are now manufacturing new hull, deck, stern and steering components that will be bonded into the existing platform.
“This repair is about as big as it gets in this timeframe – think the Brazil repair on steroids”, said Joel Marginson, Director of SailGP Technologies.
“While this is a major technical challenge, the team is confident that all is going to plan, and the Black Foils will be back on the startline at their home event in Auckland next month.”
Following the New Zealand Grand Prix the circuit will return to Australia for a record seventh visit to the iconic Sydney Harbour on 28 February and 1 March 2026, for the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix.
