Downtime increases Am Cup speed intrigue
Team NZ confident as lack of racing adds mystery to Auckland regatta showdown. By Duncan Johnstone.
The enforced America’s Cup layoff has increased the speed intrigue and raised the possibility of one team getting a jump on their rivals.
The cancellation of the two world series’ regattas in Italy and England mean the first time the radical 75-foot foiling monohulls line up against each other will be in late December in Auckland, just a few weeks ahead of the Prada Cup challenger series to find out who will race Emirates Team New Zealand for the Auld Mug.
With no racing and limited reconnaissance with the four heavyweight teams being shut down for most of the past six weeks, there are increasing imponderables about the small fleet. The teams are already well into the builds of their second boats without getting a competitive feel for their first generation efforts, that have produced some big design variables.
‘‘It is going to make the first regatta even more exciting and even harder to know what to expect,’’ admits Emirates Team New Zealand’s design boss Dan Bernasconi.
He concedes a team could get a jump on their rivals, given the open nature of the design rule.
‘‘Inevitably, there will be some areas of the boat where some teams have got it right and some teams haven’t,’’ he said.
‘‘Until you see them racing against each other it’s going to be really hard to know how competitive each team is.’’
Bernasconi backs Team New Zealand’s proven systems to get them through this lack of racing and associated development.
‘‘I don’t think we see it as a disadvantage, we have always been strong believers in our simulation tools and ability to design a boat without having seen it race or seen it on the water. It’s going to hurt everyone but I don’t think it hurts us any more than anyone else.’’
He’s adamant the in-house testing will see significant changes when the next boats are revealed. ‘‘The second boats will be pretty different I think. Even if we had had the first regattas in Cagliari and Portsmouth, and we’d seen how we’d fared against the others, it would be interesting, but probably not a very good benchmark as to how teams are going to do in the Prada Cup and America’s Cup.’’
There is a race within the race now and that is to get those second boats built on time after the lockdown restrictions.
Team New Zealand have 7500 man hours to make up. The boat builders are working double shifts to achieve that, while the sailing department continue testing on the small-scale Te Kahu, as the syndicate await the return of the full-sized Te Aihe, which is due back in Auckland next month from its aborted European mission.
Team New Zealand’s plan is to race their second boat in the
Christmas Cup world series regatta in Auckland and Bernasconi expects the same from their rivals though, again, it will be time dependent.
‘‘It would be cutting it too fine really to launch a second boat later than that,’’ he said.
‘‘But having said that, ourselves and other teams have had significant setbacks with the lockdown and so whether that is still possible is something we are looking at for the Christmas Cup, and I’m sure other teams are looking at it as well . . . whether they will be able to get their boat on the water in time for that or whether they will be racing in their first boats.’’
Team New Zealand have until March to develop their race boat, while their rivals plough through the long challenger series.
‘‘They are massively complex boats, they take time to commission.
‘‘Plus it takes time to learn to get the best out of the boat . . . it has to be long enough to get through that initial learning stage.’’