New Zealand SailGP Team helmed by Peter Burling Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
A victory in the final fleet race of the day has boosted the Black Foils into fourth after three races on the first day of the New York Sail Grand Prix.
The race win highlighted a challenging day on the Hudson River featuring light wind and heavy rain with the Black Foils getting second place in the opening race of the day and 11th in the second.
Just one point separates second and fourth on the table heading into the second day of racing with Spain leading the way five points ahead with two scheduled fleet races for Monday.
The conditions on day one saw the teams contest the first race of the day with just three athletes on board before going to four in the next two.
Black Foils driver Peter Burling said minimising errors was vital in the conditions.
"It was about getting off the startline and trying to not make too many mistakes around the course.
"We felt like we did a really good job of that in the first and third races while we made a mistake at the start of the second and didn't take our opportunities. Definitely a lot to look back on. We'd obviously like to be a few points higher on the leaderboard but we are excited for tomorrow," Burling said.
The New York regatta is the first SailGP racing since March after a wingsail defect forced a brief hiatus of the competition with the cancellation of May's Rio event.
"It's great to be back competing with the other teams and have 12 boats on the startline. It feels like a long time since San Francisco so it was great to have today under our belts and take some momentum into tomorrow and the rest of the season."
New Zealand won the New York event last year.
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