Kiwis need to be faster and sail better in finals

If Team New Zealand are to win this America’s Cup, they need to be significantly better than Oracle Team USA.

The reality is, as is the case with every America’s Cup, it’s not an even playing field in Bermuda.

Oracle have set the rules to suit themselves, they’ve had a chance to test their boat against Emirates Team New Zealand in the challenger series, they have a second boat, they even have a one-point advantage going into the Cup finals.

If they’re to overcome these odds, Team NZ need to have a faster boat than Oracle, and they need to sail better than the defender.

Team NZ know this.

Where the Kiwi team are so strong is they know how to play the game, because their key backroom guys have been in and around it for so long.

They have some experienced heads in the backroom who have learned how to operate from a design priority, managing the sailing programme, the general operational stuff, and even legal.

They know what an America’s Cup is all about, whereas we saw with some of the campaigns such as Ben Ainslie Racing and, to a certain extent, Artemis Racing, they were perhaps held back by inexperience at times.

I see a hell of a lot of parallels in this Team NZ campaign to 1995. They have a radical boat, a young, talented crew and a helmsman at the top of his game.

I’ve been lucky enough to see Peter Burling compete for several years, and he is one of those guys that just sees the game early.

Couple that with his intellect and engineering background, and you can see why he is considered the country’s best and brightest sailing talent.

He can talk to the designers and engineers at their level — that’s a hell of an advantage, I would have thought.

What I also like about Burling is he is unflappable — the guy has ice running through his veins. He’s certainly not walking around the Team NZ base with the worries of the world on his shoulders.

I don’t think Team NZ starting from a point behind is going to be a huge factor, but they will want to have parity by the end of the opening weekend of racing.

The way the schedule works this time around, with four races scheduled this weekend and then a five-day break before race five, could have a big psychological impact.

If one of the teams is really strong this weekend, that will play on the other team’s mind next week.

Ordinarily, if you have a bad race, you’re on the water again the next day with the opportunity to put it behind you.

In this scenario, if you have a bad opening weekend, imagine having to wait from Tuesday through to Saturday before you race again.

After San Francisco, of course, no New Zealand fan is going to feel comfortable — even if Team NZ have a dominant opening weekend. But the good thing is, those on board the New Zealand boat don’t carry those same scars from San Fran, because aside from skipper Glenn Ashby, it is an entirely new crew.

We’ll see today what they can deliver.

I don’t think Team NZ starting from a point behindisgoingto be a huge factor.