The Black Foils have crashed out during the opening day of Sail GP in Perth. Photo: Samo Vidic for SailGP
NZ Black Foils have begun the new SailGP season in disastrous fashion, colliding heavily with Swtizerland in the opening race at Perth.
The Swiss F50 struck the rear of the Kiwi boat, leaving them little time to take evasive action.
The Black Foils were forced to sit out the final three fleet races of the day and a spokesperson said further investigations would take place, once the boat was lifted from the water to assess the damage.
None of the NZ crew on board were injured.
"Tricky day one for us at Perth," admitted skipper Peter Burling. "We got off to an awesome start and then had an incident with the Swiss at the bottom of the first run.
"They swung super hard at us and we couldn't quite keep up with the turn rate, so they took out the back of our boat.
"Super frustrating to be back on the shore, but we're thankful that everyone's in one piece and safe."
A decision on whether the Kiwi boat could compete again in the two-day regatta was yet to be confirmed.
