In their place, Switzerland driver Sébastien Schneiter, France strategist Manon Audinet and Denmark grinders Luke Payne and Martin Kirketerp were on board.

The New Zealand boat suffered a 'lot of damage’, according to Tech Team director Brad Marsh, with ‘all electrical systems going down’.

New Zealand driver and team co-CEO Peter Burling said: “It’s incredibly disappointing to be unable to race in next weekend’s event for our team, fans, partners, friends and family.” Wing trimmer and co-CEO Blair Tuke said, “We’re working closely with the league to chart a path forward from here.

That includes reviewing the rules for redress and compensatory points to ensure this forced non participation does not further hinder our results this season.” Tuke said, “As a group, we’re really proud of how we’ve been sailing, and how we bounced back on day one in Saint-Tropez after a difficult event in Los Angeles.

It’s incredibly disappointing to not be able to build on that momentum, but we’ve faced adversity before and we will come back stronger in Cádiz, and for the rest of the season.” [11] Investigation into the cause of the collapse found that "the mast went drastically out of alignment."

The foils are what allow us to fly above the water at speeds of up to 100km/hr – they represent innovation and progression in our sport.”[1] The New Zealand SailGP Team first raced in Season 2 where they placed 5th.

A close battle with the Australia SailGP Team in the final in San Francisco narrowly losing by 6 seconds.

[27] Season 4 was more successful even with setbacks from the wing collapse in Saint Tropez which stopped the team from sailing in Taranto, Italy.

[60] The team’s main focus was The Race To Save the Endangered Antipodean Albatross, ensuring protection of seabirds migrating over international waters.

[61] New Zealand’s highlights throughout the season included its Moanamana Project in collaboration with Live Ocean, which saw $50K distributed to climate-resilient kelp research in Whakarāupo Lyttelton.