Kiwi sailor Peter Burling has arrived in Auckland in the early hours this morning, but he admits his homecoming was bittersweet thanks to a tactical decision gone wrong during the recent sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Burling, aboard Dutch entry Team Brunel, crossed the Hauraki Gulf finish line last this morning despite leading for different parts of the 10,200km leg which began in Hong Kong three weeks ago.
"It definitely doesn't feel good being last in here," he said.
"We sailed a pretty good leg up until about the last week where we made one mistake and let a good chance of winning it but ended up in last place.
Tuke and Spanish entry Mapfre crossed the Auckland finish line third overnight.
"But coming back home is pretty special."
Team Brunel went into stealth last week as they made a bold tactical move near New Caledonia, opting to stay east and near the small Pacific Island in an attempt to get a straighter entry towards the north east coast of New Zealand.
However, the move backfired with the rest of the fleet racing along five knots faster than Brunel for several days after the move.
As a result, Team Brunel's lead dissappeared and they finished nearly 90 minutes behind leg winners and fellow Dutch crew Team AkzoNobel.
Burling said the move was a good learning curve.
"I think it's been a pretty big learning experience for a lot of us on board.
"There's been some pretty tough lessons learned this leg but I think we probably sailed our best sailing as well."
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