SailGP: New Zealand take day one lead ahead of Canada and Great Britain in Christchurch

New Zealand overjoyed their house lovers with one race victory and two second-placed finishes as they piled the power on SailGP championship leaders Australia on house waters.

The 3,000 Kiwi lovers at the shore in Lyttelton cheered as Peter Burling guided his boat to a dominant win in the second one of Saturday’s trio of races.

That got here after New Zealand surged during the box to complete at the back of France in race one and they confirmed spectacular consistency to return moment at the back of Canada in race 3.

Great Britain remained in the quest for a podium end with two third-place finishes and a fourth however it used to be a day of unhappiness for Australia.

Tom Slingsby’s championship leaders have been edged out by way of Great Britain in race one and completed moment to the rival Kiwi boat after a tactical error executing a flip early on.

New Zealand most sensible the standings after the primary day of the SailGP regatta in Christchurch 

Ben Ainslie and his staff stored Great Britain in rivalry for podium puts after day one

And the Aussies weren’t even in the quest in race 3 as they needed to make do with 5th total getting into Sunday’s two fleet races, with best the highest 3 making the finale.

New Zealand led the Saturday standings with 28 issues, with Canada on 24 and Great Britain on 23.

France, who made it 4 race victories in a row following their spectacular appearing in Sydney remaining day trip, ended up fourth on 21 issues after their scorching streak very a lot burned out.

The motion in Christchurch used to be not on time by way of 40 mins as a result of dolphins have been noticed at the route however regardless of so much of striking round, the French boat skippered by way of Quentin Delapierre made a blistering get started.

They had gained all 3 races on day one in Sydney sooner than day two used to be cancelled as a result of of storm-force winds and they made it four-in-a-row by way of main for almost all of the race.

It used to be an underwhelming day from championship leaders Australia as they ended up 5th 

New Zealand have been 6th at one level however stormed again to take moment position with Britain’s Ben Ainslie and his staff appearing solidly to carry off Australia and clinch 1/3.

The moment race used to be New Zealand’s for the taking once Australia slipped up executing a flip, a mistake that drew an enormous cheer from the partisan native crowd.

Britain recovered from early issue which noticed them in short convey up the rear of the sphere to complete fourth at the back of Canada.

That Canadian promise used to be showed in race 3 as skipper Phil Robertson, himself a Kiwi, confirmed a mastery of the gusty stipulations to clinch a win that propelled them up the standings.

Standings after day one: 1. New Zealand (28pts); 2. Canada (24pts); 3. Great Britain (23pts); 4. France (21pts); 5. Australia (18pts); 6. United States (16pts); 7. Switzerland (14pts); 8. Denmark (10pts); 9. Spain (8pts).