January 18, 2025 • 12 mins
The Black Foils are adamant bad starts can be remedied ahead of day two of the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix on Auckland's harbour.
The Kiwi crew are fourth overall after winning the final fleet race of day one.
They had three miscued starts but still recovered to finish fourth and sixth in two of the races.
Team strategist Liv Mackay joined Piney to explain how the team can overtake their opposition.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalks, EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yes, Indeed, Sale GP and the City of Sales for Sure.
Day two today gets underway at four o'clock three fleet
races and then a three boat final, joined by Black
Foil's strategist Live Mackay. So you're looking out at what
am to Harvard there before love, what's going through your
mind ahead of day two?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah, Hi, well thanks for having me on. Yeah, I
mean this is the first time I'm seeing the racecourse
this morning, so yeah, just really looking if it's behaving
similar to yesterday or not. And it's definitely a step
up and breeze, So really just figuring that out. And
we've got a few meetings in the next hour, so
figuring out as much as can on water and then yeah,
(00:49):
hopefully preparing now to get out there.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
So they step up and breeze. What does that mean
for you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
So we're on the same configuration as yesterday with the
twenty four meter wing and the step up and breeze
will mean you know, in some parts, so make it
easier to say we won't see it, there's patchy, we
won't see boats probably on and.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Off the foil.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
But that extra power really means, you know, we're still
learning the t foils and how they behave. But yeah,
airing on the side of out of maneuvers and things
just being not conservative, but you know, knowing that there
is you need to cross a bit earlier, everything will
happen a bit quicker and you know, those starts and
(01:31):
reach marks will come up super quick. So yeah, taking
into that all into account.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
How much did you learn about sailing on the t
foils yesterday?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, Well, fortunately my role is a lot about looking
up and around the course, so yeah, I think you
definitely notice that you can do certain things that you
couldn't before, and the opposite as well. So yeah, I
think everyone's just in that race to learn as quickly
as possible, and some boats are you know, a bit
(02:00):
further ahead than just really learning off that. But yeah,
I think you'll see it mostly today with the t
foils expected, you know, a speed to increase. Hopefully it'll
be exciting to watch and hopefully some speed records out there.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
I mean you could see that today for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah. Everyone, So I guess I'm not sure if it's
a holy grail, but one hundred kilometers an hour out
there on those on those flours. I think teams have
done it in training even though hasn't been done in competition.
But remember, what's it like. You've exibpling along at a
high nineties? What's that like?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, well we saw Monday this week we were on
the small wing and saw you know, twenty three twenty
six knots off takpoona so into the fifties and the
k kPr kph on true wind speed, and that really
got us into our top speeds. It's full on, seriously
full on. I mean, I love it, but you've got
(02:51):
you know, the foils are quite loud, they're quite a
bit louder so in our helmets you can hear a
lot of quite a lot of screeching. It's you know,
and that can bring up the intensity. If you can't
hear pete on the other side of the yacht, it's
you know, you're going at that speed and you think
you don't really know what's going to happen next. So yeah,
all that factors into really trying to get on the
same page before the start, before the race, and doing
(03:13):
as much proeper as possible so you can you can
really own the situations because you know, when you're going
at that speed, you've really got to attack it and
not you know, be submissive, otherwise you're really going to
end up in some bad situations.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
How important was the one in race four yesterday for you?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Yeah, I think we had everyone on their toes. Yes, Yeah,
it was a bit of a.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I mean, good slow start to the day excuse one.
But yeah, I mean we're stoked that we got an
extra race in there and managed to take the win.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
I think learning more and more and yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Making sure we you know, have the mentality of checking
away at boats all throughout the day but remaining you know,
in that aggressive approach and really took the advantage of that.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
And Race four.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
What did happen in Race one at the start?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Great question.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I was super shifty out there, so yeah, we just
got a bit behind on the right shift and ended
up a bit low into the approach. But yeah, we
were fortunate to you know, always see the opportunities throughout
the race. And I think that's something Pete does really well,
but we do, you know well as a team obviously.
Is see, you know, there's so many passing lanes out
(04:25):
there and just always moving on. What's next step in,
what's the next gap in the fleet. So yeah, hopefully
we'll make it a bit easier out there today.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah, it's incredible racing.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well because from that position, you know, slow to the state,
you still got up to fourth in that race. You
talk about passing lanes, do you still back yourselves as
a team even if you do have a slightly less
impressive start than you would like to make your way
through the field.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah. I think given that there's eleven boats in the fleet,
and because it's so shifty, so gusty, and we saw
big lules out there yesterday, people coming off the foil,
that means there's you know, huge opportunities for passing lanes.
I think we always see those one or two boats
get around the reach mark and they just get off,
and so obviously the start is huge. But never for
(05:18):
one moment do you ever go around the reach mark
and be like, oh, okay, we're eleventh in this race.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Never.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, because I heard a bit of comms and I
might have misheard, but it's I heard Peter say, oh
we've picked up a point there, which obviously means overtaking
one more boat. Even if it's quite laid on. Even
the difference between fifth and sixth can over you even
over an event, can that be quite significant? You know,
just just going past one or two, even right near
the end of a race.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Yeah. Massive.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
We always see every point counts and we really see that.
I mean the structure of sale GP and just getting
into the top three is massive and you can see that.
You know, you can really lose the event on a Saturday,
but you just need to be within reaching distance of
that top three. So yeah, we definitely you know, I
didn't have our best day yesterday, but we're actually sitting
(06:06):
in a in a reasonable position going into today. So yeah,
even recovery, you know, taking all those points from yesterday,
it was still a good day.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
You were telling me before we came on here that
you're up quite late last night and meetings and things
like that. I guess we assume that, you know, once
racing finishes, you pack up, you go and have a
beer or whatever it is and get your head down.
But that's not the case. Meetings. You know, what crunching
data that sort of thing. What does that involve?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, I think each team has a different approach to
how they use their time. But for us, we break
out and as a team and really try and attack
each area. And I mean, we've got such limited time
through a weekend, you don't want to chase yourself in circles.
But for us last night we wanted to review that
(06:53):
starting straight away and then we come back again in
the morning after you kind of sleep on it and
look at a few different things individually, and we really
think we all have such different strengths and collectively work
really well together, so really trying to average leverage that.
And you know, as we discuss things and meetings, we
get on the same page. So you know, as I
(07:13):
said earlier, the intensity of the racing is high and
you have such minimal time to make decisions and react.
So really, the more we talk on land and the
more cohesion we.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Have, the better we are on the water.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
We just had Stevie Morrison race commentator on before you
came on the air, and he talked about the way
that you knit the communications together on the Black Foil's boat.
Is that something that you pride yourself on.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah. I mean for me, in the last couple of years,
I've learned so much from the team and really in
the last few months I've seen that that's where I
should lean into the communication side. There is my role,
but also communication is just becoming more and more important
with the more boats and the fleet, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
The higher speeds.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So yeah, I'm read trying to lean into that area
and it's quite a you know, a big space to
learn and you know, you have your your on your
better days and so really trying to create that consistency
and platform for the team.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Do you aspire to drive?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, I mean I love, I love holming, but in
no way do I want to push Pete or anything.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I don't think the two things have to be you know,
they don't have to they one doesn't have to cause
the other. Have you had a go with driving them.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, I've Actually it's spent quite a lot of
time on the helm. We did in a really cool
camp in Dubai and November for there was eighteen female
sailors in that and I drove the two days and
loved it. Had a bit of driving here this week
and yeah, I think I do love it and it
really the strategists in the home role really blended nicely
(09:02):
to each other. So yeah, I'm spending a lot more
time with p actually learning from him and really you know,
being a solid back up because this, you know, the
racing is pretty full on and physically, you know there
there's more and more injuries happening, so really trying as
a team to build.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
That back up and have that there.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So yeah, really into it absolutely when I say GP's
vision is to have two full time crew members on
every female crew members on every boat. Do you feel
like a like a trailblazer, like a role model? I mean,
you're operating at such a high level, you know, I
often say you can't be it unless you can see it.
Do you feel a responsibility to I guess see have
(09:45):
other young female sailors see you in action.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I wouldn't say I feel a responsibility, but I definitely
feel very passionately about sharing what there is happening at
the top of the sport for people to you know,
dream and I you know, get asked quite often you know, how.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Did I get into it? Had I always aspire to
be here?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
And yeah, unfortunately it's you know, when I was eighteen,
I never thought that professional sailing was a career, and
one hundred percent I would have probably done more at eighteen,
you know, dug into it more and everything if I
knew it was possible. So I just really want to
share that there's a lot of changes happening at the
top of our sport and that you know there will
(10:33):
opportunities are opening up more and more. But you know,
it's the experience you get when you're fifteen, sixteen, seventeen
that will really bring you into this level. So yeah,
just really trying to share that with girls so that
they can they know that and they can you know,
really lean.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Into it so good. Do you still get nervous?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Actually, I not so much. I definitely feel the adrenaline,
you know, it's a massive adrenaline every time we go
on the water, But I really feel quite calm now
going into events. I really feel like quite insular. I
really just think we've got so many processes and structures
that I'm able to really focus on my role, and
(11:17):
we do so much prep that it actually makes me
quite excited about the weekend.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, well we're pretty excited about today looking out there.
So just to finish, what should we expect when racing
gets underway at four o'clock this afternoon? In terms of
you got the eleven boats all going at it.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Oh, I think it'll be faster than yesterday, to be honest,
but yeah, I think it's going to be amazing. It's
setting out to be an awesome racetrack and yeah, I
just can't believe the crowds and everyone out there. So yeah,
I think it'd be an amazing, amazing show.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yep, they're set to flock and again from well before
four o'clock this afternoon. Love great to get your insight.
Thanks for stopping in on race day. All the best
this afternoon and for the rest of the season.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
No, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to new talks it Be weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalks, EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yes, Indeed, Sale GP and the City of Sales for Sure.
Day two today gets underway at four o'clock three fleet
races and then a three boat final, joined by Black
Foil's strategist Live Mackay. So you're looking out at what
am to Harvard there before love, what's going through your
mind ahead of day two?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah, Hi, well thanks for having me on. Yeah, I
mean this is the first time I'm seeing the racecourse
this morning, so yeah, just really looking if it's behaving
similar to yesterday or not. And it's definitely a step
up and breeze, So really just figuring that out. And
we've got a few meetings in the next hour, so
figuring out as much as can on water and then yeah,
(00:49):
hopefully preparing now to get out there.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
So they step up and breeze. What does that mean
for you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
So we're on the same configuration as yesterday with the
twenty four meter wing and the step up and breeze
will mean you know, in some parts, so make it
easier to say we won't see it, there's patchy, we
won't see boats probably on and.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Off the foil.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
But that extra power really means, you know, we're still
learning the t foils and how they behave. But yeah,
airing on the side of out of maneuvers and things
just being not conservative, but you know, knowing that there
is you need to cross a bit earlier, everything will
happen a bit quicker and you know, those starts and
(01:31):
reach marks will come up super quick. So yeah, taking
into that all into account.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
How much did you learn about sailing on the t
foils yesterday?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, Well, fortunately my role is a lot about looking
up and around the course, so yeah, I think you
definitely notice that you can do certain things that you
couldn't before, and the opposite as well. So yeah, I
think everyone's just in that race to learn as quickly
as possible, and some boats are you know, a bit
(02:00):
further ahead than just really learning off that. But yeah,
I think you'll see it mostly today with the t
foils expected, you know, a speed to increase. Hopefully it'll
be exciting to watch and hopefully some speed records out there.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
I mean you could see that today for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah. Everyone, So I guess I'm not sure if it's
a holy grail, but one hundred kilometers an hour out
there on those on those flours. I think teams have
done it in training even though hasn't been done in competition.
But remember, what's it like. You've exibpling along at a
high nineties? What's that like?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, well we saw Monday this week we were on
the small wing and saw you know, twenty three twenty
six knots off takpoona so into the fifties and the
k kPr kph on true wind speed, and that really
got us into our top speeds. It's full on, seriously
full on. I mean, I love it, but you've got
(02:51):
you know, the foils are quite loud, they're quite a
bit louder so in our helmets you can hear a
lot of quite a lot of screeching. It's you know,
and that can bring up the intensity. If you can't
hear pete on the other side of the yacht, it's
you know, you're going at that speed and you think
you don't really know what's going to happen next. So yeah,
all that factors into really trying to get on the
same page before the start, before the race, and doing
(03:13):
as much proeper as possible so you can you can
really own the situations because you know, when you're going
at that speed, you've really got to attack it and
not you know, be submissive, otherwise you're really going to
end up in some bad situations.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
How important was the one in race four yesterday for you?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Yeah, I think we had everyone on their toes. Yes, Yeah,
it was a bit of a.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I mean, good slow start to the day excuse one.
But yeah, I mean we're stoked that we got an
extra race in there and managed to take the win.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
I think learning more and more and yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Making sure we you know, have the mentality of checking
away at boats all throughout the day but remaining you know,
in that aggressive approach and really took the advantage of that.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
And Race four.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
What did happen in Race one at the start?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Great question.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I was super shifty out there, so yeah, we just
got a bit behind on the right shift and ended
up a bit low into the approach. But yeah, we
were fortunate to you know, always see the opportunities throughout
the race. And I think that's something Pete does really well,
but we do, you know well as a team obviously.
Is see, you know, there's so many passing lanes out
(04:25):
there and just always moving on. What's next step in,
what's the next gap in the fleet. So yeah, hopefully
we'll make it a bit easier out there today.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah, it's incredible racing.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well because from that position, you know, slow to the state,
you still got up to fourth in that race. You
talk about passing lanes, do you still back yourselves as
a team even if you do have a slightly less
impressive start than you would like to make your way
through the field.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah. I think given that there's eleven boats in the fleet,
and because it's so shifty, so gusty, and we saw
big lules out there yesterday, people coming off the foil,
that means there's you know, huge opportunities for passing lanes.
I think we always see those one or two boats
get around the reach mark and they just get off,
and so obviously the start is huge. But never for
(05:18):
one moment do you ever go around the reach mark
and be like, oh, okay, we're eleventh in this race.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Never.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, because I heard a bit of comms and I
might have misheard, but it's I heard Peter say, oh
we've picked up a point there, which obviously means overtaking
one more boat. Even if it's quite laid on. Even
the difference between fifth and sixth can over you even
over an event, can that be quite significant? You know,
just just going past one or two, even right near
the end of a race.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Yeah. Massive.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
We always see every point counts and we really see that.
I mean the structure of sale GP and just getting
into the top three is massive and you can see that.
You know, you can really lose the event on a Saturday,
but you just need to be within reaching distance of
that top three. So yeah, we definitely you know, I
didn't have our best day yesterday, but we're actually sitting
(06:06):
in a in a reasonable position going into today. So yeah,
even recovery, you know, taking all those points from yesterday,
it was still a good day.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
You were telling me before we came on here that
you're up quite late last night and meetings and things
like that. I guess we assume that, you know, once
racing finishes, you pack up, you go and have a
beer or whatever it is and get your head down.
But that's not the case. Meetings. You know, what crunching
data that sort of thing. What does that involve?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, I think each team has a different approach to
how they use their time. But for us, we break
out and as a team and really try and attack
each area. And I mean, we've got such limited time
through a weekend, you don't want to chase yourself in circles.
But for us last night we wanted to review that
(06:53):
starting straight away and then we come back again in
the morning after you kind of sleep on it and
look at a few different things individually, and we really
think we all have such different strengths and collectively work
really well together, so really trying to average leverage that.
And you know, as we discuss things and meetings, we
get on the same page. So you know, as I
(07:13):
said earlier, the intensity of the racing is high and
you have such minimal time to make decisions and react.
So really, the more we talk on land and the
more cohesion we.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Have, the better we are on the water.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
We just had Stevie Morrison race commentator on before you
came on the air, and he talked about the way
that you knit the communications together on the Black Foil's boat.
Is that something that you pride yourself on.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah. I mean for me, in the last couple of years,
I've learned so much from the team and really in
the last few months I've seen that that's where I
should lean into the communication side. There is my role,
but also communication is just becoming more and more important
with the more boats and the fleet, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
The higher speeds.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So yeah, I'm read trying to lean into that area
and it's quite a you know, a big space to
learn and you know, you have your your on your
better days and so really trying to create that consistency
and platform for the team.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Do you aspire to drive?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, I mean I love, I love holming, but in
no way do I want to push Pete or anything.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I don't think the two things have to be you know,
they don't have to they one doesn't have to cause
the other. Have you had a go with driving them.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, yeah, I've Actually it's spent quite a lot of
time on the helm. We did in a really cool
camp in Dubai and November for there was eighteen female
sailors in that and I drove the two days and
loved it. Had a bit of driving here this week
and yeah, I think I do love it and it
really the strategists in the home role really blended nicely
(09:02):
to each other. So yeah, I'm spending a lot more
time with p actually learning from him and really you know,
being a solid back up because this, you know, the
racing is pretty full on and physically, you know there
there's more and more injuries happening, so really trying as
a team to build.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
That back up and have that there.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So yeah, really into it absolutely when I say GP's
vision is to have two full time crew members on
every female crew members on every boat. Do you feel
like a like a trailblazer, like a role model? I mean,
you're operating at such a high level, you know, I
often say you can't be it unless you can see it.
Do you feel a responsibility to I guess see have
(09:45):
other young female sailors see you in action.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I wouldn't say I feel a responsibility, but I definitely
feel very passionately about sharing what there is happening at
the top of the sport for people to you know,
dream and I you know, get asked quite often you know, how.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Did I get into it? Had I always aspire to
be here?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
And yeah, unfortunately it's you know, when I was eighteen,
I never thought that professional sailing was a career, and
one hundred percent I would have probably done more at eighteen,
you know, dug into it more and everything if I
knew it was possible. So I just really want to
share that there's a lot of changes happening at the
top of our sport and that you know there will
(10:33):
opportunities are opening up more and more. But you know,
it's the experience you get when you're fifteen, sixteen, seventeen
that will really bring you into this level. So yeah,
just really trying to share that with girls so that
they can they know that and they can you know,
really lean.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Into it so good. Do you still get nervous?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Actually, I not so much. I definitely feel the adrenaline,
you know, it's a massive adrenaline every time we go
on the water, But I really feel quite calm now
going into events. I really feel like quite insular. I
really just think we've got so many processes and structures
that I'm able to really focus on my role, and
(11:17):
we do so much prep that it actually makes me
quite excited about the weekend.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, well we're pretty excited about today looking out there.
So just to finish, what should we expect when racing
gets underway at four o'clock this afternoon? In terms of
you got the eleven boats all going at it.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Oh, I think it'll be faster than yesterday, to be honest,
but yeah, I think it's going to be amazing. It's
setting out to be an awesome racetrack and yeah, I
just can't believe the crowds and everyone out there. So yeah,
I think it'd be an amazing, amazing show.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yep, they're set to flock and again from well before
four o'clock this afternoon. Love great to get your insight.
Thanks for stopping in on race day. All the best
this afternoon and for the rest of the season.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
No, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to new talks it Be weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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