Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Football
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Live sport on SN this weekendKiwis 'blown away' they've been blamed for SailGP crash
Jasper Bruce, AAP • January 17th, 2026 11:20 pm
New Zealand is out of Perth's SailGP event after colliding with Switzerland | Photo: SailGP
Skipper Peter Burling is incredulous umpires have blamed New Zealand for the horror crash that ended the Kiwis' Perth SailGP within two minutes of the starting gun being fired.
New Zealand's transom, part of the boat's stern, was ripped off and left floating in Fremantle Harbour when they collided with Switzerland in the first of Saturday's fleet races.
Australia were first past the finish line in that race but are fourth on the event standings after four races, with newest boat Sweden finishing as the day's best performers.
The USA and France are tied atop the standings with Sweden, who won two fleet races on a bumpy first day of the high-speed league's new season.
It was a shocking start to the campaign for heavyweights New Zealand, deemed by umpires to have failed to give way to Switzerland en route to the second mark in the first fleet race.
The Kiwis had been travelling at about 60km/h at the time of impact, with both boats grinding to a halt before a stunned crowd on the Fremantle shoreline.
Switzerland is expected to resume racing on Sunday's second day of the Perth regatta. New Zealand are unable to take further part given significant damage to their boat.
The Kiwis have also received eight penalty points on the season leaderboard, but Burling indicated his boat would challenge the league's findings.
The Olympic gold medallist felt his boat did not have time to avoid the Swiss boat so could not be blamed by umpires for the crash.
"I'm still blown away, to be honest, that the umpires think we're at fault," Burling said.
"Initially, we had right of way with them as the windward boat, but then they've jibed onto starboard and gained right of way.
"We did everything we could to avoid the incident, I don't think they (Switzerland) could say the same."
Burling felt SailGP had now set the standard for the rest of the Perth regatta and the 12 that follow this season.
"I think it's a super dangerous precedent for SailGP to set if that's the ruling," he said.
"Everyone's obviously pretty shaken-up. It felt like we did a really good job through the build-up.
"To have an incident like that happen in the first race of the season is definitely not ideal."
Sailing on Fremantle Harbour will continue on Sunday | Photo: SailGP
Fighting to recover from grand-final heartbreak last season, Australia had a mixed day, winning the first fleet race on the back of a hot start.
Eighth, ninth and second-placed finishes followed, but skipper Tom Slingsby was mostly pleased after Australia lost star signing Iain Jensen to injury this week.
The Olympic gold medallist is in a knee brace after falling during practice on Thursday and was replaced by veteran Glenn Ashby.
"I don't think there's any other team in the fleet who could lose their wing trimmer a day before and be sitting fourth overall, especially in such tough conditions," Slingsby said.
The three boats that perform best across the weekend's fleet races will advance to the event final on Sunday afternoon.
