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January 19, 2026 13 mins

People can’t get enough of Sail GP. 

There was an average of 18 million dedicated broadcast views per event in 2025, with both social media and the events themselves continuing to grow.  

Black Foils co-CEO Blair Tuke told Mike Hosking the model’s proven itself.  

Tuke attributes the sport’s growth to the fact that it’s a race that hasn’t been seen before, and it was built for the fans from the outset.  

Because of that, he says, the league and teams have been able to pivot and adjust to follow what the fans and commercial partners want, which has helped with the trajectory.  

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In a world where there was one a lot of
sport and two a lot of sport that's increasingly increasing
in popularity sales GP is right up there in terms
of growth at the moment. The competition heading towards its
second round in New Zealand. For this year, round one
over the weekend got the headlines of course, as olboat
got nailed and we had to pick bits up out
of the water. Co CEO Blair Chuk is with us
from the Black Boils. Blair, good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, good morning Mike, and.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Happy New Year to you. Do you get any time
off over the Christmas period? It was at all hands
to the deck.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
No.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
I did manage to get a couple of weeks off,
which was nice.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
But yeah, we finished that last season early December and
then this one was just last on the weekend with
the prep bleeding and so it wasn't too much time off,
but nice to be in New Zealand spend some time
with friends and family.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
So what do you do? Did you pick all the
pieces up out of the water if you glued them
back together? How does that work these days?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, it certainly wasn't a good moment for us in
Perth on the weekend. One of the bigger incidents have
been involved with, just really unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Mike.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
You know, the racing rules are sailing are one thing,
and through that moment when you're maneuvering like that, two
boats maneuvering, the rules are changing between probably three different
rules in this space of a few seconds. The umpires
deemed us to be in the wrong what people would
probably recognize as a clear port start. But although it
all happened quick, but outside of the racing rules, there's

(01:27):
an obligation on all boats to try and keep the
boats apart and the aggressive move by the Swiss was
quite dangerous in my opinion, and trying to clear out
behind us rather than diverging them steer back to the left,
you know, was what caused the biggins and in my opinion,
So yeah, pretty frustrated to be ruled out of the weekend,

(01:48):
but at the same time I'm glad that everyone's okay,
especially Pete at the back. There was very close to
where the ball went through our boat.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Is the fixed difficult? And is it time? Is it money?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
It both?

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yes, it's difficult first answer, but the sale GP technology
team's very good now they're up and running in the
new facility in Southampton in the UK, and what will
happen from here will be that a new part of
the boat will be made, or they're going to take
a part of the boat that's actually in one of

(02:21):
the boats that was coming online next ison't So I'll
take the port stern of one of those boats.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
They'll cut that or lay.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Up a new one the last one meter and a
half or two meters, and then they'll fly that down
to Auckland, which they should rendezvous with our boat coming
from Perth on around the fourth or fifth of February,
and then here in Auckland they'll splice the two together
and we should be racing on the fourteenth and fifteenth.
That's the plan. All going well, but it's going to

(02:50):
need some work. But really confident in the team they've
got there to do that for us.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Who pays for that? How does the system work? Because
I'm an F one gig and so you've got your
own budgets, your own team, you fix your own problems.
So you've got a center a centerpiece in Britain. Is
it covered as part of the competition.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
No, this will be covered by the team.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
However, it gets fixed by the All the boats in
Sales GP are owned by the league themselves and we
charted them off off the league. However, any costs like
this would be inculd by the teams. Wow, And different
teams have different varyings of levels of insurance cover this
sort of thing. So yeah, it's a fairly significant cost.

(03:33):
But the race racings type moments like these are happening
every other weekend. Like I said right the headline, I
guess just disappointed at the Swiss the action where they
came aggressive to go behind us rather than divert away.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
If speaking to you as a CEO, co CEO that,
by the way, are you enjoying that away from how
much away from sailing CEO is going on for you?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh a lot?

Speaker 3 (04:01):
No, That's definitely where I see my future, and that
evolution on my role over the last few years has
been something that I've loved. That's challenged me more than
what the sailing has right, that's sailing over the last
few years. I've rased in America's cups, we rased in
the Olympics. Yes, we haven't won sale GP yet, but

(04:22):
the wider business and trying to grow the black foils
on all aspects of it. Is what's challenged me excites me,
and it's got to go huge potential in the future.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
As you talked about the.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Start, because because back to my original question, the model,
does the model work well? Do you like the model
that you've got a central base, you've got some independence
but not complete independence?

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Is that a good way of operating?

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (04:48):
I think the model's proven itself. We're into season six
now and the numbers speak for themselves. So GPS growing
at a huge you know, it's on a huge trajectory,
both the league itself but also the individual teams averaged
eighteen million dedicated broadcast views per event last year. Social

(05:09):
media grows, the events are growing. I took the opportunity
actually on Sunday, which was tough to swallow, to go
sit in the grandstands, and once I got over myself
and started enjoying it, it was an awesome experience and
I wouldn't get that otherwise. And I wanted to go
putting my CEO head, I wanted to go and sit

(05:31):
in there and trying to enjoy it and understand that
side of the business.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
And yeah, that's a seriously cool sporting property.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
I was reading you talked about the audiences and the
growth and all that. So I'm looking at the metrics
and how many people are watching. Do you have a view,
either as a sportsman or a CEO. It seems to
me there are certain sports in the world yours is
one of them. The growth is exponential. People can't get
enough of sport. There are eyeballs, there are ticket sales
that were broadcasting rights, there's huge money involved in it all.

(06:00):
Why what's happened to sport that has become so big?

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Well, I think for us.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's a it's a new sporting property.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yes it's a it's.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
A sailing race, but it's a sailing race that hasn't
been seen before, and it's been built for the fans
from the outset and because of that nature and because
there was no yes we race sort of under the
racing rules of sailing, but it's just started up from
it from scratch, and the league and all the teams
have been able to pivot and as much.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Like a startup bill would, and so.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
We've just pivot followed what what the fans want, what
the commercial partners want, and that's helped us with that
trajectory and it's a it's a really exciting thing to watch.
I know you're a big F one fan, and when
you what you see with the growth of F one,
when you're at F one race, you're seeing one corner
or one one straight, whatever it might be. At a

(06:59):
SALGP race, you see the whole course. So there's action
a plenty, and I saw that first hand free on
the weekend where you're seeing boats, whether it in first
or back in tenth or eleventh, they're coming into the
bottom marks, crashing and you're.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Seeing the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
So that's the big machines and that and is capturing
people's imaginations and dragging people to it, and it's bringing sales.
GYP has never been about getting the sailing fans involved.
It's always been about that racing fans and trying to
convert them across from other types of sports. And that's

(07:36):
happening where people want to see action and they get that.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Was that was my next question. Are the people who
are coming do you know what does the league?

Speaker 2 (07:44):
No?

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Are they coming from other sports or are these just
it's tech, it's speed And if you've got tech and
speed together, you've got a fan.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yes, that's the primary fan, is what we deem the
racing fans. So that's the someone that likes this type
of sport and sees this and goes, well, I want
to watch it, try and alarm myself with the team
that's first and foremost. And that's happening in big numbers
right across the world. And you know, for us at
the Black Foils, we've we've got people that might have

(08:14):
been America's Cup fans in the past or Peden Blair
fans through the Olympics, and they are now becoming Black
Foils fans and they are learning the leos, the lives, and
they are becoming their own stars stars in their own.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
So that's it's different in different markets.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
And we're lucky here in New Zealand we've got that
big foundation of sailing support. So when you get that combination,
it's powerful.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Do you have a breakdown in that sense? Is it
young people? Everybody?

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Men?

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Women?

Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yes, it's it's pretty even gender wise, and it's I
think the average fan.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Thirties.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
We've still got which so it's not the super young,
but it is low right, And and then there's also
there's people that are watching at home. But then there's
also the people coming to enjoy the events, as you
know we'll see in Auckland where people want to come out,
they want to have a good day out. Sure there's
some sailing on, but it's more about the whole experience
rather than just the sailing and.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
The appendages to the competition, like renewable power, the sort
of the messaging around that. How important is that as
a model to present to a wider public. I mean,
does it mean anything to the average fan or are
you just watching a bit of sailing. No.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
I think having that foundation there of you know, for us,
that's racing in partnership with liboations. Different teams have got
different organizational choirs are aligned with.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
For us, it's it's right now the.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
DNA as a team, and it has been from the start,
So it's not like it was something that said, oh,
we need to go clean and green and tie us
to something, so let's do it. And you can kind
of see from the outside that it's just just token.
For us. There's and with the team and has been
from the start. I mean we started Eyevotion before the
Black Foils, so I think obviously we've seen a lot

(10:13):
of change in the in the world over the last
couple of years where countries are pulling back and organizations
are pulling back in this area. But it's still really
core to the whole of svaldyp as a league and
the individual teams.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Did you think what it is today is what it
would be? I mean, someone's a genius as Coots to genius.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah, he's got a very good vision for this, he
and he and Larry. Obviously without Larry there to to
underwrite it and get it going, wouldn't have wouldn't have happened.
But now that you're seeing the sponsors, they are involved
and are involved, big global brands, ten year plus deals.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
That's this is the real deal.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
So it's yeah, it's still early, like right, it seems
like five six years, but this is still early doors
for we're all.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Going to How do you personally view it? I mean,
is it still exciting to get on those little boats
that you used to win Olympics in or is that
now just so far down the rear view mirror it's
not worth talking about. And is the America's Cup still
a thing because of its glamor in history or is
the tech and the speed where it's all going to

(11:27):
be at.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Well.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
I think the first part of that question.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
The forty nine is always going to have a special
part in my heart. Is such a big chunk of
Pete and myself's career, and it's what led us to
say so much, whether it was America's Cup or all
this and the Black Foils. But yeah, no one's ever
going to take away from your leading the country into

(11:52):
the Americana Stadium in Rio or winning that gold medal,
and that's such a such a huge thing. And there's
a lot of young guys and girls coming up through
the Olympic Sailing in New Zealand now that are sailing
those boats and they'll have bright futures. So that's still
that still is very much a pathway with regards to
America's Cup. I think, you know, I really do hope

(12:14):
that both sporting properties have a successful future. And I
think the America's Cup, like you mentioned, has has that
long history and that they will always that and that
that sets them up really well from a brand point
of view. You know, they've made some quite big changes
this edition and some continuity and try and take out

(12:36):
the big laos for sale GP that's been part of
it from the start where we race. You know this
year thirteen or fourteen events all around the world.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Jirk interesting, great to catch up with you might go
well and good luck an early feb and I hope
it all comes back together again a lot of people
will be turning out to watch good to catch up
with you and talk. Thank you, Mike blair Chuk, who
is the co CEO of SALEG the Blackfoils.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
News Talks at B from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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