Team NZ development down to wire
AUCKLAND: There is an unmistakable bustle about the America’s Cup village in Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard, as organisers and contractors put in a frantic final push to be ready for opening day.
The compressed timeframe the teams have been operating under in this cup cycle, and the astonishing pace of development of the new 50ft foiling catamarans, has resulted in the six syndicates taking their development programmes right down to the wire. None more so than Team New Zealand.
After being off the water for virtually all of last week due to a rudder blowout and a collision on successive days, the Kiwi syndicate was still testing new hardware in yesterday’s final proper training hitout before Saturday’s racing.
The team has a scheduled maintenance day today, a public holiday in Bermuda, while media and broadcast commitments on Friday will foil attempts for any meaningful time on the water on the eve on the regatta.
Team NZ’s chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge said since getting back on the water over the past three days, the team had been able to tick off several priorities.
‘‘We’ve been heavily into the development phase right up until now. But now we have to focus purely on the racing,’’ Shoebridge said.
‘‘[The lastminute tinkering] is not by choice. This is happening later than we want it to happen.
‘‘Because we got on the water late we’ve been scrambling a little bit over the last year really, so we have been forced into this position. But in saying that, it would be nice to have a little bit longer for preparation, but we feel as though we’re in a good space and we’ve got to where we want to be.’’
Shoebridge said the biggest gap in Team NZ’s preparation was its lack of proper racing experience. With defender Oracle Team USA and Team Japan refusing to engage with the Kiwis, who have been cast as the lone wolves of the 35th America’s Cup, Team NZ has had to make do on a limited diet of practice racing with most of their matchups coming against two of the lesserfancied teams in Ben Ainslie Racing and French syndicate Groupama.
‘‘The big learning curve for us at the moment is getting out on the water and actually racing the opposition and trying to figure out the course. We’re starting to see improvement and gains there and we will hopefully continue to do so,’’ Shoebridge said.
Over the next few days the Team NZ brains trust will ‘‘lock down’’ the race settings on the Kiwi boat, in an effort to ensure it is reliable come race day.
Team NZ’s haste may prove unnecessary, however. The forecasts for Saturday’s opening day of racing predict fresh conditions at the upper range of the wind limit, raising the possibility the event may get off to a false start.