AmCup warm-up close to the real deal
AMERICA’S Cup rivals Peter Burling and Sir Ben Ainslie have refuted suggestions that teams will be sandbagging at December’s warm-up regatta, insisting the racing will be fairdinkum.
While some of the latest foils might be kept dry for the real action in Auckland from
January to March, the competitive instincts of the world’s best sailors on board the sport’s most radical boats will ensure the world series regatta and Christmas Cup are highly competitive.
It’s the only time the four teams will have a chance to legally check in against each other ahead of the Prada Cup challenger series and the
America’s Cup match.
‘‘I doubt anyone wouldn’t put their best foot forward,’’ Emirates Team New Zealand ace Burling told Sunday News.
‘‘You’ve got so much to learn and the other people are learning so much by putting their best foot forward, so I’m sure everyone will be pushing pretty hard to take it out.
‘‘The rule at the moment says we aren’t able to sail in a coordinated manner, so you are kind of limited in the scope you can do against the other teams. So it’s going to be a great opportunity to get out there and race.
‘‘It will be great for the event to build up the hype and really showcase what these boats can do.’’
Team New Zealand’s wing controller Glenn Ashby has the same mindset.
‘‘You get 11 guys on board who are all pretty competitive, no-one is going to be wanting to hold back, so it is going to be game on.’’
Withwarm-up regattas in Italy and Britain cancelled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, teams are eager to get a feel for these radical boats in close-up situations.
Ainslie, who won the 2013 America’s Cup with Oracle Team USA against Team New Zealand, and is now in his second term in charge of the British challenge, concurred.
‘‘I don’t expect anyone to be sandbagging, we haven’t really got time for that,’’ Ainslie implored.
‘‘That’s the first timewe really get a gauge where our competitors are at and it’s going to be fascinating to see where we are all at.
‘‘Even though it’s a training event really, the teams will want to put their best foot forward for sure.’’
While it will be Team New Zealand’s only chance to get a feel for their opposition before breaking away to train on their own for two months, Ainslie felt the Christmas Cup was even more important to the challengers.
‘‘The Kiwis have got a bit of a break, they can afford to spend more time and maybe stagger their development a bit more,’’ he explained.
‘‘But for us, as challengers, it’s really tight to get to the next stage and obviously you need to get through that and into the challengers final and into the Cup. So the pressure is on.’’
Team New Zealand have launched their second boat Te Rehutai amonth after their rivals andmust get up to speed quickly to be competitive for this first racing opportunity, that starts on December 17 and runs for four days.