Burling and Tuke alter dynamics at Team NZ
The balance of power is slowly changing within Team New Zealand, which has implications for the big decisions to be made about the future.
After the successful retention of the America’s Cup last month, there are many questions on the table.
Where and when will the next defence be held? How will the team be funded? Will there be access to public money? Is the proposed Deed of Gift challenge from the British really viable?
One question that is less obvious but also pertinent is around the scope of chief executive Grant Dalton’s role.
There is no indication he will step away from the team he has run for 18 years but also no doubt that the dynamics have changed.
Since 2003, it has been Dalton’s empire, helped by able lieutenants such as key benefactor and team principal Matteo Di Nora, and former and current directors such as Gary Paykel, Bob Field, Jim Farmer, Greg Horton and Sir Stephen Tindall.
The picture looks a little different now, principally because of the emergence of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
The new boys of 2015 have become, in a remarkably short time, the old hands, with a much greater influence in the team’s operation.
The fresh-faced kids we saw in Bermuda are now probably the most marketable men in world sailing, with unparalleled skills and ability across a wide variety of classes.
But they are also ambitious. It’s not just a matter of keeping them on the team, it’s also about keeping them challenged.
Dalton and his directors are the expert money men and will need to crunch the numbers, but the likes of Burling and Tuke will have a massive say in the direction of the team, along with the venue and structure of the next Cup edition.
The pair don’t have experience of the financial side of running a team but that’s about all that’s missing from their resume.
The situation is not quite like Sir Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth in the late 1990s, though there are some parallels. Back then, Coutts and Butterworth had been involved with Cup teams for a decade and by 2000 felt they were ready to take the helm (before it all unravelled spectacularly).
Burling and Tuke’s tenure has been shorter but no less significant.
“There has been a shift for the whole team and especially those two from what you saw in Bermuda, to what you saw here,” agreed Cup veteran and expert commentator Peter Lester.
“[There], Peter was the helmsman and Glenn Ashby was the skipper, whatever that means.
“Here, they have gone up to be key. Still alongside Ashby, but Pete and Blair ran the show, without a doubt.”
Lester says Dalton deserves credit for his willingness to constantly adapt.
“What he is bloody good at is making sure the team has what they need — not necessarily what Grant needs,” says Lester, citing the example of Hamish Wilcox, the long-time 49er coach of Burling and Tuke, coming into the Cup team for this edition and playing a key role on and off the water.
Along with Josh Junior and Andy Maloney, the afterguard is starting to resemble Coutts’ famed ‘tight five’ (Butterworth, Murray Jones, Warwick Fleury, Dean Phipps and Simon Daubney) from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.
“They’ve got better as a group than they were in Bermuda because they’ve taken ownership, led by Pete and Blair and Glenn,” said Lester. “They don’t have to be managed by the likes of [Kevin] Shoebridge and Dalton.”
There are many more steps to play out but the shifting tide within the Kiwi syndicate will be fascinating to observe.
The picture looks a little different now, principally because of the emergence of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.