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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from News Talks edb.

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Speaker 2: GP hits Auckland again February fourteen and fifteen. It'll be

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Speaker 2: event two of the twenty twenty sixth calendar. Australia certainly

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Speaker 2: enjoyed the first Auckland event earlier this year.

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Speaker 3: As they bring it home and there's the best line,

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Speaker 3: the sold out crowd will bring them home. They'd rather

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Speaker 3: see black boils, but they're going to seek green and

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Speaker 3: gold as they come to the line, the Emirates Pooty

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Speaker 3: moment goes the way of the Australians.

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Speaker 2: Still one event to go in twenty twenty five, the

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Speaker 2: Grand Final in three weeks time in Abu Dhabi. Great

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Speaker 2: to welcome in Black Foil's flight controller Leo Takahashi. Leo,

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Speaker 2: thanks for joining us. Less than one hundred days until

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Speaker 2: you're back in Auckland. But how are you're tracking towards

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Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five final in about three weeks time?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's good. Thanks, one hundred days to go to Auckland.

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Speaker 4: It's weird to be celebrating a male done by that

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Speaker 4: and we still have one more event to go in

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Speaker 4: the in the in the last event of the season.

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Speaker 4: But abudb the prep's going well. We've had a nice

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Speaker 4: little break after our events in Spain, a couple of

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Speaker 4: weeks off and then we're kind of kind of starting

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Speaker 4: to wrap things up with prep and yeah, just thinking

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Speaker 4: about the light wins and the Grand Final, the three

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Speaker 4: boat when it takes all that, we could be having

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Speaker 4: a Nabadabi.

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Speaker 2: Just give us the lowdown on the format. You still

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Speaker 2: have fleet races first, right, and then it's the top

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Speaker 2: three at the back end of Abu Dubbi, Is that right?

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Speaker 4: Yeah? Correct, We still have a full fleet series, so

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Speaker 4: we've still left seven races over the two days, and

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Speaker 4: then we still have to basically qualify ourselves into that

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Speaker 4: Grand Final. So right now we're second overall with the

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Speaker 4: Ossies and the Spanish still behind us, and then the

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Speaker 4: Brits a couple of points behind, So still have to

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Speaker 4: perform on the first couple of fleet races and then

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Speaker 4: kind of solidify our place into the final, and then

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Speaker 4: it's when it takes all for that big prize.

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Speaker 2: How do you reflect on twenty twenty five as a whole.

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Speaker 2: They say that elite sport can be a roller coach,

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Speaker 2: Would that be a fair description of this year.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's definitely had its ups and downs, but you know,

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Speaker 4: definitely more ups for sure. You know, it's it's been

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Speaker 4: a challenging season just for the front the early early

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Speaker 4: start of the season having a few gear issues and

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Speaker 4: then just trying to gel with the team and then

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Speaker 4: you know, this back half, it's just been trying to

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Speaker 4: perform and you know, the team has jelled and we're

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Speaker 4: just trying to find the little bits to eke out.

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Speaker 4: But you know, in Spain, we you know, we came

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Speaker 4: off the back of a tough event in Geneva and

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Speaker 4: the points are actually super tight, and then the team

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Speaker 4: had had to have a really good result in Spain,

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Speaker 4: and you know, we came away and worked real hard

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Speaker 4: on what went wrong and and then we had a

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Speaker 4: really good event in Spain. We were kind of in

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Speaker 4: there about to win the final, but then you know,

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Speaker 4: the Brits pipped us. But the fact we got a

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Speaker 4: second there and kind of built a bit of a

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Speaker 4: lead on the back on the Spanish and the Aussie

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Speaker 4: to kind of solidify and place overall, that's what I'm

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Speaker 4: real happy with.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned that we're gelling there a couple of times.

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Speaker 2: As we all know, you came in to replace Andy

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Speaker 2: Maloney and the Black Foils, and I remember speaking with

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Speaker 2: you early in the year and you were saying very

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Speaker 2: keen to try and gel with this team. What's that

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Speaker 2: process been like for you, Leo, as as you've tried

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Speaker 2: to find those connections and have found those connections and

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Speaker 2: to gel with the Black Foils team.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, like I said, it's we have a real great

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Speaker 4: culture in the Black Foil and it's about our challenges

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Speaker 4: with everyone being known in different places at once, but

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Speaker 4: when we're all together, the team work really well together

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Speaker 4: and and hard as well in the behind the scenes.

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Speaker 4: So for me, I know I've got the skills to

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Speaker 4: do a great flight controller. It's just all about learning

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Speaker 4: the tendencies of how everyone works in the team, how

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Speaker 4: PiZZ to the bow and how bl Trim's wing and

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Speaker 4: then yeah, just trying to work through that. And then yeah,

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Speaker 4: we've had a lot of different conditions this yere, mainly

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Speaker 4: like like within the recent and a few events, So

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Speaker 4: just really being on top of the game when it

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Speaker 4: goes from being real light or real real windy, because

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Speaker 4: it's the team that kind of settles into that pace

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Speaker 4: as soon as you can first that that does well

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Speaker 4: in those events, and ultimately the consistency throughout the season.

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Speaker 2: You get a mountain of data, I'm sure after every race,

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Speaker 2: probably after every leg of every race. When you look

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Speaker 2: at your data, what is more important? Is it flight

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Speaker 2: time or is it stability? Once you're up on the foils.

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Speaker 4: It's basically when it's light winds, it will be flight time,

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Speaker 4: and then yeah, when it's when we're consistently foiling, it

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Speaker 4: will be stability. You know that anyone can be a

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Speaker 4: kind of hero and fly the boat super high, but

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Speaker 4: if the stability is not there, it's it's you know,

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Speaker 4: you're not going to be getting the performance out of

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Speaker 4: the boat. So I'm just trying to find that balance

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Speaker 4: between flying super high and having enough stability that the

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Speaker 4: team can make the decisions around the course. So that's

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Speaker 4: what other for in the data there is there are

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Speaker 4: lots of data, and you can kind of really get

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Speaker 4: into rabbit holes comparing itself with other teams and how

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Speaker 4: you're going. But yeah, the main things are, you know,

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Speaker 4: how your speed is around the course. The starts have

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Speaker 4: been kind of big statistic. You know that some of

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Speaker 4: the other teams has definitely had some good Mark one

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Speaker 4: averages from the start, so just trying to figure out

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Speaker 4: how they're doing that. And then yeah, for me and

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Speaker 4: Blair who kind of look after this speed stuff, trying

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Speaker 4: to figure out where the games are made and how

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Speaker 4: we can really get the potential out of the boat.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, basically stability. Definitely have a flight, but we're fording.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, flight is super important to stay on the

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Speaker 4: foils and that really light, fickle breeze.

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Speaker 2: You travel the world during Style GP and it's great

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Speaker 2: to have an event in New Zealand. Again, how much

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Speaker 2: did you enjoy sailing on home waters earlier this year,

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Speaker 2: even though the result didn't go the way you probably hoped.

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Speaker 2: What was it like sailing on home waters?

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Speaker 4: Oh? It was amazing. It's on board is that I

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Speaker 4: grew up sailing on. And you know, even just the

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Speaker 4: thought of you know, falling at forty knots around Auckland

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Speaker 4: Harbor was a dream come true. Todded that off. With

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Speaker 4: my family and friends being there and all the fans

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Speaker 4: that showed up and showed their support, it was it

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Speaker 4: was truly a dream come true. So no, I'm really

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Speaker 4: excited For the twenty twenty sixth edition, the grand stands

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Speaker 4: are going to be even bigger, so that the fans

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Speaker 4: that missed out last year they can get a ticket

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Speaker 4: and make sure that they're missed out. And yeah, it's

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Speaker 4: going to be a great day out that always is here.

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Speaker 4: We's love a bit of you know, watching watching from

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Speaker 4: sailing in the sun and you know, just enjoying a

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Speaker 4: real cool atmosphere of Kiwi sports. So the fact that

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Speaker 4: it's making it more easier for fans to watch sailing,

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Speaker 4: I'm really happy about it, and it's cool to see

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Speaker 4: the sport growing so fast.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely couldn't agree more. Looking forward to being there

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Speaker 2: on February fourteen and fifteen for event to in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty six Leah, thanks for chatting to us, mate, all

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Speaker 2: the best and Abu Dhabu, is you Chase the big

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Speaker 2: for twenty twenty five. Look forward to seeing you back

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Speaker 2: in Auckland early in the new year.

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Speaker 4: Thanks Jase to make sure you get tickets, will see

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Speaker 4: you there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I look forward to it, mate. Leo Takahashi. Flight

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Speaker 2: Control Sale GP Auckland at February fourteen and fifteen next year.

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Speaker 2: Tickets available right now. And expanded grandstands, so more tickets

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Speaker 2: for more people, but it will sell very quickly. Make

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Speaker 2: sure you get involved. Were broadcast Weekend Sport from there

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Speaker 2: February fourteen and fifteen next year.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk zed B weekends from midday, or follow

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