United States driver Taylor Canfield has reflected on the team’s performance in Christchurch, which saw them finish 8th overall ahead of Australia and ROCKWOOL DEN.
Speaking after racing, Canfield said the event’s Sunday schedule of three fleet races and a winner-takes-all Final made for ‘an unbelievable day’ with ‘epic conditions’ and ‘great crowds’.
But the team struggled on the course of Lyttelton Harbour, finishing with a 9-9-9 race record - the worst results since Canfield took over the team in Dubai.
Key underperforming metrics included average speed; the Americans had the lowest of the fleet - an average of 49.7 km/h. The team also came bottom for flight time - 85% - and ride height - 774mm.
Despite finishing bottom of the fleet in the last two fleet races (Australia was unable to race due to damage), the team finished 8th overall.
This was due to severe penalty points handed to ROCKWOOL DEN and Australia. The Danish were held responsible for a three-boat pile up in the start box of the first fleet race, while the Aussies hit a mark after rounding Mark 1, causing significant damage to their F50.
The Americans were caught up in the first incident of the day. ROCKWOOL DEN hit Canada and - with nowhere to go - Canada rebounded into the side of the U.S. F50.
Reflecting on the incident, Canfield said the starting box was ‘quite tight’ which ‘caused a lot of chaos on the start line’. “That collision with Canada was pretty intense and did some damage to the boat,” he said.
From there on in, the Americans struggled, with Canfield admitting the team made critical errors.
“We were a little sloppy - there’s no doubt about it, and we had a few moments where we were up in the front and had some mistakes that pushed us back,” he said.
This can also be seen in the data. The Americans had an average Mark 1 position of 7.3, but this position had fallen to 8.7 by the finish, meaning the Americans lost an average of 1.3 places during the course of the race.
But overall Canfield said the team had made ‘huge gains’ on its fourth ever day in foiling conditions.
Looking ahead, Canfield said he was excited for Season 4’s ‘North American tour’, kicking off with Bermuda, before heading to Halifax in Canada, New York and finally San Francisco.
“We’re looking forward to some warmer weather, some good racing and some awesome venues,” he said. “Bermuda will definitely not disappoint.”
