Peter BurlingMNZM (born 1 January 1991) is a New Zealand sailor. He is the 3-time winning helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand for the 2024, 2021 and 2017 America's cups. (2024 and 2021 as skipper).
Burling won an Olympic gold medal in the 49er class at the 2016 games and silver medals in the 2012 and 2020 Olympics.[1][2]
Burling is a founder of Live Ocean - a registered New Zealand charity which supports and invests in promising marine science, innovation, technology and marine conservation projects.
He was named as male World Sailor of the Year at the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards in 2017.[3] He and his 49er partner Blair Tuke also won the award in 2015, and were finalists in 2014 and 2016.
Burling was awarded the Magnus Olsson prize for 2020 "for an indelible contribution to the world of sailing."[4]
He has won six 49er World Championships, two 420 class World Championships and the 2015 Moth World Championships.
Burling sailed as watch captain and helmsman with Team Brunel on the Round-the-World 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race finishing 3rd overall in the closest finish in the history of the race, with the top 3 boats going into the final leg effectively tied on points and finishing just 25 minutes apart.[5] Team Brunel won 3 of the final 5 legs, including the leg from Auckland to Brazil, which the organisers say was the hardest leg in the history of the race.[6]
Burling married long time partner, Lucinda Nelson, on the weekend of the 4th March 2023 in the Coromandel Peninsula, on New Zealand's North Island. Teammates & friends Blair Tuke, Andy Maloney, and Josh Junior were his groomsmen.[8]
Early life and education
Burling was born in 1991 in Tauranga. His education began at Welcome Bay School and Tauranga Intermediate School.[9][10]
He started sailing at the age of six in the Welcome Bay estuary near his home in Tauranga, in an old wooden Optimist called Jellytip. At the age of eight, he joined Tauranga Yacht Club and started competing.[11][12][13][14]
Burling sailed in his first Optimist nationals at age 9. At the age of 11 in 2002, Burling finished 2nd in the New Zealand Optimist Nationals (under-16).[18] He competed in the 2002 Optimist World Championship in Texas at the age of 11.[19]
In 2003 at the age of 12, Burling won the New Zealand Optimist Nationals and competed in the 2003 Optimist Worlds in the Canary Islands where he finished 40th. He stopped sailing the Optimist at age 12.[citation needed]
At age 13, he was 2nd in the New Zealand P class Nationals (under 17), to Timaru local hero Thomas Olds.[20] He won the NZ Starling nationals (under 19) – (winning both the Fleet racing and Matchracing titles) twice – at age 14[21] and 15.[22]
At the age of fifteen Burling and Carl Evans won the 2006 420 class Worlds in the Canary Islands – the youngest sailors ever to do so. They also won the under-16 and under-18 world championships.[23]
At 16 years old Burling successfully defended his 420 title to win the 420 class Worlds sailed in Auckland. He also won the under-18 world championship. Burling finished 6th in the 2007 470 Europeans – his first international 470 regatta and had his best world ranking in the 470 of 5th in 2008.[citation needed]
Adult career
America's Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand won the 2024 America's Cup in Barcelona on 20 October 2024. Peter Burling was the skipper and joint helmsman with Nathan Outteridge. (The AC75 yachts have two helmsmen.) Peter Burling became only the second helmsman to win three America's Cups in consecutive contests after Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (1930, 1934 & 1937). Burling has won 22 America's cup races, beating the record of 17 previously held by Jimmy Spithill.
Burling was the winning skipper and helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand's 2021 America's cup campaign. Emirates Team New Zealand won the 2021 America's Cup event in Auckland on 17 March 2021. Burling at 30 years, 2 months became the youngest ever skipper to win the America's cup.
He was the helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand's 2017 America's Cup campaign, which was raced in Bermuda.[24] On 27 June 2017, he became the youngest winning helmsman in the history of the Americas Cup, when at age 26 he and his team won the 35th competition for the cup.[25][26]
Burling skippered the New Zealand Sailing Team entry to victory in the inaugural Red Bull Youth America's Cup in San Francisco in September 2013.[27][28]
Burling (right) and Blair Tuke wearing their Olympic gold medals in 2016
Burling with Blair Tuke were Olympic flag bearers for New Zealand at the 2016 Olympics.[31] They were just the 4th New Zealand flagbearers to win a gold medal at the same Olympics.[32]
At age 25, Burling was the youngest ever 49er Olympic gold medal skipper. He and Tuke won the 2016 Olympics with two races to spare[33] and by an overall 43 point margin[1] – winning by the most points of any sailing class in the Olympics in over 50 years.[34]
Burling and Tuke won silver at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics - missing the gold medal on countback.[35][36]
Burling and Tuke are the first sailors to win six 49er class World Championships (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020).[39] They won all 28 of the major regattas in the 49er between the London Olympics (2012) and the Rio Olympics (2016).[40] The only regatta they did not win in this time was when they finished 3rd in a short 2 day regatta prior to the Olympics. In all the major regattas (Olympics, Worlds, Europeans, World Cup) in 2015 and 2016 they led into the medal races by over 20 points – effectively winning the regattas before the medal race.[citation needed]
Burling finished 11th in the 470 class at the 2008 Olympics. At 17 years old (still at school), he was the youngest sailor ever to represent New Zealand at the Olympic Games.[41] Burling was the youngest sailing competitor at the 2008 Olympics[42] and the youngest member of the 2008 New Zealand Olympic team.[43]
Offshore sailing
2017–2018 Volvo Ocean race sailing on Team Brunel.[17]
2017 3rd Rolex Fastnet race (Line honours) (sailing on Nikita)[44]
2014 4th Auckland-to-Fiji yacht race (sailing on Wired)[45]
Burling is the helmsman and co-CEO (with Blair Tuke) of the New Zealand boat "Amokura".
5th overall in season 2 (their first season in the competition)
2nd in season 3
3rd, though overall season points leader in season 4, winning 5 events.
Other sailing
Burling was the 2015 International Moth World Champion. He was 2nd in the 2017 Moth Worlds.
He finished 3rd in the 2014 A class catamaran Worlds.
ISAF Rolex World Male Sailor of the year 2015 (with Blair Tuke)[49]
Magnus Olsson prize 2020 "for an indelible contribution to the world of sailing."[50]
Lonsdale Cup (NZOC) 2020 (With Blair Tuke) "for a New Zealand athlete (or team) who has demonstrated the most outstanding contribution to an Olympic or Commonwealth sport during the previous year."[51]
Finalist, Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2014,[52] 2015, 2016[53] (with Blair Tuke), 2017,[54] 2021.
Yachting New Zealand Sailor of the Year 2013,[55] 2014,[56] 2015,[57] 2016[58] (with Blair Tuke)
Yachting New Zealand Young Sailor of the Year 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011
Halberg Sports Team of the Year 2016. (with Blair Tuke)[59]
Finalist Halberg awards (New Zealand), Team of the Year (with Blair Tuke) 2012,[60] 2013,[61] 2014,[62] 2015,[63] 2016.[64]
Sailing results
Volvo Ocean Race
2017–2018 – Volvo Ocean Race – Team Brunel (helmsman and watch captain)
America's Cup
2024 – 37th America's Cup – Emirates Team New Zealand (helmsman and skipper)
2021 – 36th America's Cup – Emirates Team New Zealand (helmsman and skipper)
2017 – 35th America's Cup – Emirates Team New Zealand (helmsman)
^Gladwell, Ben (29 April 2015). "Who is Peter Burling?". Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
^"New Year Honours List 2017". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2016. Archived from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
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