Eight events deep into the fourth season, Team New Zealand is vying for the top spot in SailGP. 

This month the race is returning once more to Lyttleton Harbour in Christchurch, giving the kiwis the home-water advantage.  

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have been on the team since New Zealand sailed onto the scene in season two, and the growth they’ve witnessed in the scene is impressive. 

“It’s great for our sport to have a league that’s there,” Tuke told Newstalk ZB’s Jack Tame. 

“To see then the growth of the whole SailGP brand, of the teams individually, viewership numbers all around the world... it’s pretty impressive.” 

Last year was the first year that a leg of the competition was hosted in New Zealand and the support the team received from local fans was amazing, Burling said. 

“Seeing how many people down in, in Lyttleton and Christchurch, you know, got behind us, and it sold out in minutes I think.” 

“It was crazy.” 

Burling and Tuke have been sailing together since 2008 and in those sixteen years they’ve experienced the growth and development not only of SailGP, but of sailing as a whole.  

“The intensities just keep going up,” Burling said. 

Since every team has the same type of boat, winning comes down to the way they use it and the skill of the sailors. Mistakes are costly and events are becoming tighter, with a lot coming down to the fifth race. 

“Everyone’s starting to push the margins harder and harder." 

The competition’s timeframe has also aided in its growth, occurring yearly as opposed to every three or four years like the America’s Cup or the Olympics. 

“The unique thing with the, the GP format is we get such limited time training,” Burling said. 

“We’re having to develop the whole time during these events.” 

While this is great for strengthening the abilities of the racers, it makes it somewhat tricky for newcomers as they don’t have the same level of experience. 

“Getting to grips with everything is the bit that takes time.” 

Burling and Tuke are co-CEOs of the team, which means they not only have to focus on growing their skills on the water, but also growing the business. 

“It’s like any, any start-up business where yeah, it’s not necessarily about those mistakes but how you learn from then, and then grow going forward,” Tuke told Tame. 

Their partnership extends even further than SailGP and Team NZ, the pair establishing the Live Ocean Foundation together out of their deep concern for the health of the ocean and the life within it. 

The charity is partnered with Team NZ, the pair seeing the platform that SailGP could be for connecting new audiences to what’s happening just below the surface. 

It’s a busy year in sailing, with SailGP, the Olympics, and the America’s Cup all taking place, America’s Cup occurring not long after SailGP finishes. 

“We’re incredibly lucky as a sailing team,” Burling said. 

“We get to, you know, practice our trade at the really high level in two sporting competitions, essentially.” 

The America’s Cup is kicking off in August, which means it’s too early to have an idea of how it’ll shake out just yet. Boat launches in April will give the first insight, Burling told Tame, but even then, you can’t be sure how they’ll develop over the coming months.  

“Keep pushing as hard as you can and hope you’re faster than them and racing better at the end.”  

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