Driver Peter Burling of New Zealand (centre) and his team mates celebrate their win during SailGP on 24 March in Christchurch. Photo: Kai Schwoerer / Getty Images
New Zealand have capitalised on the home advantage to take line honours at SailGP in Lyttelton to snatch an overall series lead.
The Peter Burling-skippered Black Foils sailed clear of France and Canada in the three-team final for the overall victory in Christchurch.
The schedule was reduced to fleet races and a final on Sunday after dolphins on the Lyttelton course forced cancellation of racing on Saturday.
Australia were unable to start the second and third fleet races with significant damage to their foiling catamaran.
New Zealand finished second in the last fleet race to progress to the final, with Australia failing to qualify for the winner-takes-all final podium race.
Bringing home the win with @champagnederothschild pic.twitter.com/aeABS1S5AA
— SailGP (@SailGP) March 24, 2024
"Doesn't get any better than that," said Kiwi wing trimmer Blair Tuke after the win over France by 12 seconds.
"Race weekend win at home, beautiful conditions, crowd... after yesterday's disappointment for everyone, we're so stoked to put on a good show today.
"We said we hoped to do it and we've done it.
"We got into a tough spot in that last fleet race to make the final, but held it together, and executed a good start and had a clean race from there."
Australia's foiling catamaran suffered damage during the opening race when they collided with Canada and became hooked on a marker buoy, forcing them out of the contest.
The fleet now heads to Bermuda in May, with further stops at Halifax and New York, before the final at San Francisco in July.
The SailGP series is in its fourth year and involves 10 teams racing identical high-tech foiling F50 catamarans reaching speeds of 50 knots.
