Burling-Tuke sailing machine rolls on

The Peter Burling-Blair Tuke sailing machine rolls on this weekend in Denmark.

Two of the busiest sailors in the business return to SailGP, their fourth change of racing class this year.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke
Photo: Kenji Demura/Photosport Ltd 2021

Just over two weeks ago the pair claimed silver medals in the 49er class at the Tokyo Olympics.

It’s been quite a year for Burling and Tuke who helped defend the America’s Cup in March before getting straight on a plane for Bermuda to start the SailGP series before turning their attention to their Olympic class boat.

Now they’re back in the F50 catamarans.

Tuke says they did manage to get a week off in Europe straight after the Games.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t get back to New Zealand with the SailGP schedule tight so we came up here and managed a nice week off catching up with some friends.”

That didn’t mean time off the water though.

“When you can’t get home the thing to do in Europe is to catch up with other Kiwis so I hung out with a friend of mine from Kerikeri and we did some wing foiling which was cool,” Tuke said

Tuke admits he still hasn’t had a chance to fully reflect on their Olympic silver medal.

“When you put so much into a big campaign like that it takes a little bit to unwind so probably it’ll be after this event when we have some more time off that we’ll reflect on it.”

“Definitely very proud of what we achieved it’s just that when you come so close to what you’d aimed for it’s tough to hide that emotion at the time, but no very proud of being able to win another medal for New Zealand.”

It’s been an extremely busy schedule for them for the last year, but one Tuke says he’s enjoyed doing.

“We’ve taken a lot on, but loving the journey, especially the last couple of months.”

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The next three SailGP events in Europe are spread out over the next three months allowing them to have a bit more time off in-between.

Burling and Tuke sat out the last two SailGP events to prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games, and they believe the team has made significant strides forward.

The New Zealand team is currently eighth and last in their inaugural season, and the change in personnel because of Olympic commitments has played a part in that.

“The whole squad is excited to be back together, the team has grown a lot this year right from the sailing team through to the shore crew, morale is really high and just looking forward to the opportunity now to grow some more and getting some good results on the board.”

“It is tough though we’re coming back together with just a couple of days training while the fleet is at a really high level now,” said Tuke.

“There’s plenty more racing to go. We’re not that far off the front of the leaderboard but it’s super tight so we need to keep growing as a unit, it’s a long season and we’ve just got to keep trying to improve.

Tuke does have a little memento to keep him smiling every day he’s away from home….. his Olympic silver medal.

“It sits here on my desk, it’s pretty awesome to have it for a couple of days and then bring it out again, it’ll stay close to me until we’re back in New Zealand in October.

SailGP standings:

1/ Australia 22 points

2/ Great Britain 22

3/ France 21

4/ USA 19

5/ Japan 19

6/ Spain 19

7/ Denmark 17

8/ New Zealand 17

Remaining SailGP schedule:

21-22 August, Denmark

11-13 September, France

10-11 October, Spain

17-18 December, Australia.