Team NZ have the ability to be competitive in new multihulls

September 18, 2010

Russell Coutts is such an innovative bloke, you knew his plans for the next America’s Cup were going to be different – and he didn’t disappoint.

There is a lot to get our heads around, but obviously the most drastic, and most controversial, change is the move to multihulls.

The AC72 class – a super high tech wing-masted catamaran – represents a new era of America’s Cup sailing. At this stage, I guess I’m a little cautious about the move, but also hugely optimistic.

For a Team New Zealand supporter the initial reaction may have been “bugger, we’ve been gazzumped”.

Emirates Team NZ were probably a bit disappointed with the announcement, although they wouldn’t be surprised.

There’s no doubt they have dominated big-boats, whether it be the America’s Cup version 5s or TP52s, everything they’ve touched over the past couple of years, they’ve won.

But if they want to continue to play the game it’s going to have to be in multihulls, that’s the deal.

So all of Team NZ’s focus must now be on transferring their success in the monohulls to these high-tech catamarans, which I think are going to be pretty exciting. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments | AC72, America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, IACC, New Zealand, Newspaper Stories, Oracle BMW Racing, Sailing, Sports, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

Farewell from Valencia

July 4, 2007

Well what a race to end the America’s Cup.

One second – one measly second.

Off the line it was a good start from Dean Barker but Alinghi, in a compromised position, hung on.

The race was a classic day of how powerful it was to be on the right hand side of your opposition. The power was really on the right on the upwinds. Sailing on the left, New Zealand on both upwind legs were bow forward but were unable to capitalise on that.

On the downwind Team New Zealand did well to roll Alinghi on the first run. At the bottom mark gate, maybe if we look back in two races, the Kiwis took the right hand gate looking down and got passed on both times. How significant that might be.

The last downwind was bizarre. At the top mark Alinghi did a dial down. The boat on starboard has the rights, which was Alinghi. The dial down was a set move. Alinghi had practised it. Alinghi dialed down when the New Zealanders dialed down and held their course. Team New Zealand were ruled not to have kept clear. It was a penalty.

What a race it was.

As you can imagine Team New Zealand were distraught. But they have plenty to be proud of. They have come so far since 2003. Grant Dalton’s leadership has been tremendous and Dean Barker will leave this cup as one of the best helmsman in the game.

They just have to go on…

Thanks to you all for dropping by, we certainly hope you have enjoyed the racing and its been great to be able to bring it to you. When we started this little blog we were unsure of how it would do – its had 90,000 page views since we started and has been a storming success thanks for you all.

I’ll aim to keep the blog running over the coming months, so stay tuned :)

In the meantime, we all need a holiday. I will be flying with Paul tomorrow to Bodrum in Turkey to spend some time with Ergin and the Provezza guys. I will also be joing my wife Susie, and the boys, Ryan and Sean who are already there.

11 Comments | America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, IACC, New Zealand, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

Spain Challenger of Record for the next Cup

July 1, 2007

I got the word last night that if Alinghi win today Desafio Español will be the Challenger of Record for the 33rd Americas Cup in two years time.

Look out for Augustin Zulueta from Desafio Español to be on Alinghi’s VIP spectator boat Vava to hand over the hip pocket challenge.

I wonder if the agreement for Desafio Español becoming the Challenger of Record will be that the next cup will remain in Valencia. There are also rumblings of a possible change to the design rules, with longer waterline length allowed on the next generation of the IACC class rule.

You heard it here first…

1 Comment | Alinghi, America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Desafio Espanol, Emirates Team New Zealand, IACC, New Zealand, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

Forget the heartbreak and move forward

June 30, 2007

Well Emirates got their money’s worth out of Team New Zealand today.

There were red spinnakers galore branding the airlines name.

For Team New Zealand fans today’s loss was heartbreaking. The wool shed resembled a funeral home. The new segment of the beige brigade who have just arrived would have been distraught.

After such a promising start, where Dean Barker was outstanding, it all fell apart for the Kiwis in the early stages of the run when their gennaker ripped.

It probably got a little nick coming out in the hoist. But it was in the worst place you can get a nick in a sail just above the tack patch. They were probably within seconds of being safe. Jeremy Lomas was out on the pole and just about to connect a tack for a peel of the new gennaker and they hit a wave and away it went. Chaos broke out. It was a bit of a shame.

They made a mistake and they gave the race to Alinghi. But they just have to move forward.

There was enough to suggest in today’s race that they can level it up. There was nothing between the boats in the breeze which was around 12-14 knots. Similiar conditions are expected tonight for race six.

The pressure is on but that is the America’s Cup.

Leave a Comment » | Alinghi, America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, IACC, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

Alinghi pull out all the stops

June 29, 2007

The pendulum has swung back the other way a bit. Alinghi had a hot day yesterday – they looked fast.

Even though the winning margin was 30 seconds it was a comfortable 30 seconds and Alinghi never really looked at risk of being beaten.

Upwind, they were more than comfortable against Emirates Team New Zealand.

The Kiwis didn’t really make any mistakes but they never really had a sniff of winning.

They made a slight error off the line but it was very slight in that the bow didn’t come off the line fast enough.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments | Alinghi, America's Cup Teams, Americas Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, IACC, New Zealand, Sailing, Spain, Sports, Valencia, Yachting | Permalink
Posted by peterlester

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