Liv Mackay: Black Foils strategist ahead of the SailGP Grand Final

Black Foils skipper Peter Burling has returned to the wheel ahead of the SailGP Grand Final. 

He's been cleared to return having missed the second training session in Abu Dhabi after cutting his finger while investigating an equipment issue. 

Burling reclaimed the helm and took a full part in practice racing held overnight. 

Strategist for the team, Liv Mackay joined D’Arcy to preview the final race of the year. 

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Wildgrave from News Talk SEDB talk.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
A bit of sailing a good can you say foiling
as you can now call the black foils after all,
all go at the foils camp, no doubt berlingant out
of a cut finger, But back on deck for the
racing and we return to normal service.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Stright to just Live.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Mackay joins us. Now she's on the phone to discuss
the final round in Abu Dhabi Morning Live.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
So how's the team looking?

Speaker 4 (00:37):
Hi, Yeah, I think the team's full of energy. I'm
really excited, so I would say, yes, dancing and also
quite focused.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
How do you go about well, how do you go
about tempering that to a degree because you need that excitement,
you need that energy in that fizz. But you can go,
excuse the pun, overboard, can't you. So the balance is interesting.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
Yeah, definitely. I think with the finals obviously the Grand
season finale, so there's a lot of a lot of media,
a lot of I guess external noise that ramps up
at this time of year. So yeah, I think you
can really go overboard with it or get distracted quite easily.

(01:20):
But yeah, I mean, we're recently the experienced team, so
I wouldn't say there's fear of that happening, but yeah,
it's definitely exciting.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
What's Pete Berlin been saying to you about what you
must do? What are they the things you're going to
do out there when you're competing that are non negotiable
in order to try and win this because this title
has been eluding him for a couple of years now.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yeah, he's I mean San Francisco has always been a
very challenging venue for us as a team. We you know,
really felt we underperformed there in the event itself and
then in the final there last year. So yeah, I
feel like we're coming into this event very differently. We've
always really enjoyed the middle, enjoyed racing here, and the

(02:08):
teams just yeah, were structure a lot differently. We've come
into this a lot more energy, a lot more rest
i'd say, and more targeted preparation. So for us, we're feeling, yeah,
really like we've had the ideal build up where that
hasn't really happened for us before. So I think it'll
be you know, all go coming this weekend.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Boats don't have rear vision mirrors. If they did, who
would be in it? Do you focus on any of
the top three and worry about what they're going to
bring to the exchange?

Speaker 4 (02:43):
Yes and no. For us, we really want to perform
in the event itself, So we have those seven races
fleet races before the Grand Finale, which goes down to
the top three. So obviously our goal has been our
goal season to get into that and then win it.
But you know, it's really important the momentum you take
from the fleet racing, what you learned from the venue,

(03:05):
everything surrounding it. So yeah, obviously within there there's four
of us that can be in the finals, so yes,
there's obviously a focus on that very much so. But
because there's four, you can't exactly match trace from the
beginning one boat or anything like that. So yes, as
the weeknd develops, you'll see I think you'll see you

(03:29):
know a bit of match tracing at play. It will
come out, But that really depends on who's you know,
doing well, who's not doing well, and how you know,
really how you know coming to that pinch point, how
that plays out. So I think it'll be very exciting
weeking to watch. B Yes, it will be lit ones.

(03:50):
But at the same time that doesn't mean it. It
means anything different. So yeah, it's all to play for
it and I think that will make some great TVs.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Live Mackay, just before you go, for the people out there,
like myself, all educated, you define exactly what your role
is as a strategist. What do you actually have to
do when you're on the ocean.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Well, my roles actually are quite unique. I change roles
depending on the strength of winds. So my typical role,
which is strategist, I'm at the very back of the
boat behind Pete, so he's driving and then I stand
behind him. My role is primarily communications. So we yes,
we have a lot of data on board a screen.

(04:35):
You know, you can see a lot, but there's a
lot of blind spots for Pete and looking long term
up the course. So I communicate about the long term
wind and try and link that in with a plan,
So giving information to Pete so he can make the
best decision basically, and then also around other boats. So

(04:57):
as the fleet is growing, we now have twelve boats
in the league, and you can imagine converging at sixty
eighty k's an hours, all pretty quick. So that's on
me to communicate that happening and for Pete to make
a decision around that whether we tack early or go past,
and that all, you know, really impacts our end results.

(05:20):
So that's a big part of it. And then as
the wind gets lighter, which is here in Abadab, I
actually move forward on the boat, so they take off
the two ninety klo guys and put myself up there
to grind. So I end up doing a physical role
as well as trimming the front sail the jib, and yeah,

(05:43):
that's a whole nother element. So I still communicate a
bit there, but my heart rate's much higher and I'm
working a lot harder, so it's not as much, but
it's yeah, another, you know, another side of my role
that I really enjoy.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
listen live to news talks that'd be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.