𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A catastrophic collision between New Zealand and France brought the opening day of SailGP racing in Auckland to a screeching halt with two crew members taken to hospital.

Soon after the start of race three, with a fleet of 13 F50 catamarans hurtling down the track towards mark one at speeds close to 100kmh, a loss of grip on the New Zealand ‘Black Foils’ boat led to one of the nastiest crashes yet seen in the six years of SailGP competition.

The New Zealand boat nosedived and immediately corkscrewed 90 degrees to the right, directly into the path of the French boat just a few metres behind. Quentin Delapierre, France’s driver, instinctively spun the wheel to the right to mitigate the impact of what might have been an even worse collision.

In the mangle of shattered carbon fiber, immediate attention went to accounting for all six crew on each of the two stricken catamarans. One crew member from each of the French and New Zealand teams was taken to hospital.

A statement from the New Zealand team said: “Black Foils grinder Louis Sinclair is in a stable condition in Auckland Hospital after suffering injuries to both legs during the collision with the French during racing today. Sinclair is receiving treatment for compound fractures to both legs but is in a stable condition.” Other crew members are carrying injuries, although not severe enough to require hospital treatment.

UPDATE: Racing has been abandoned following a major collision between New Zealand and France on Day One of the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix. More to follow. pic.twitter.com/0gWF78igtD

— SailGP (@SailGP) February 14, 2026

“I think both teams are quite OK,” Delapierre said. “I want to give my thoughts to the New Zealand team and also to my teammates — this was tough for everyone on both teams. I believe we’ll find some solutions to make sure we never see this kind of thing happen again.

“On the incident itself, I can’t really say anything. Everything happened so quickly — it’s still super cloudy in my head and I haven’t reviewed the footage or spoken to the umpires, so I can’t comment further.”

Taylor Canfield of the United States added: “It’s scary. We’ve been involved in a big crash ourselves, and our hearts go out to the teams. The real thing is just making sure everyone is ok.

“We hate to see it happen to anyone. We’re out there to race, but also to make sure that everyone’s safe. Scary moment, and we hope everyone’s ok and wish them a speedy recovery.”

Racing was abandoned on Saturday following the collision between the New Zealand and French boats. (Simon Bruty for SailGP)

As numerous support boats gathered around the stricken tangle of the French and Kiwi catamarans, the race committee abandoned Race 3, and no further racing took place. It was a sombre conclusion to an afternoon of high-octane racing that had given the Auckland fans plenty to cheer about.

Pete Burling steered the Black Foils catamaran into an early lead of the opening race, although the Australians and French later overtook the Kiwis in the wildly variable and gusty winds bulleting out of Auckland’s Central Business District across Waitemata Harbour. Still, third place across the finish was perfectly respectable, and then a race victory in Race 2 put Burling into the overall lead. The home crowd in the stands were loving it, and the carnival atmosphere was in full swing.

The stellar Kiwi performance was shaping up to be the perfect riposte to a disastrous opening event in Perth a month earlier. Scarcely a minute into the opening race of the SailGP Championship season and there had been a boat-breaking collision between Switzerland and New Zealand. The umpires disqualified New Zealand as the boat that had to keep clear, a decision that Burling has vehemently disagreed with ever since. With the back few metres of the starboard hull knocked clean off by the Swiss boat, it has taken all four weeks since the incident — with boatbuilders working around the clock — to get the F50 back and ready to race again in front of the home crowd in Auckland.

Now it is the front few metres of the starboard hull that has been severed from the New Zealand boat, although the damage list runs way further than that, both for the Kiwis and the French. Not only are both boats out of the running for the rest of the weekend, there’s little to no prospect of these two teams being able to contest the next SailGP Grand Prix event in Sydney two weeks from now.

For a while this afternoon, the official leaderboard showed New Zealand topping the leaderboard. But after the umpires penalised Burling’s team seven points for the collision, New Zealand is relegated to fourth in the standings. Rising to top spot in their place is none other than Delapierre and the French, with Australia in second and Spain in third.

On Friday the organisers already pulled forward the race schedule by more than four hours to an 11.30am start, in anticipation of severe breeze on Sunday afternoon. Even with the earlier start time however, the forecast is looking marginal for racing to be able to go ahead. After all that’s happened on Saturday, it’s still possible that the French — with their boat in bits — might yet be crowned winners in New Zealand.