Team NZ happy to take it nice and slow
Team New Zealand are playing the long game and won’t be rushed into trying to stamp their authority on the looming Christmas Cup that features racing in the radical America’s Cup boats for the first time.
Team New Zealand launch their new race boat on Thursday and will have less than four weeks to fine-tune it for the Christmas Cup, the four-day regatta that starts on December 17.
There will be pressure to produce a commanding performance in their only lineup with the three challengers before the Kiwis take on the top team in March. That America’s Cup match is all that matters to the New Zealand syndicate.
‘‘Obviously the Christmas Cup is coming on but our goal is the match on March 6 and you have to keep that in mind,’’ Emirates Team New Zealand’s chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge told the Sunday Star-Times.
‘‘I think people have come to realise that it’s the long game and with these new boats there is so much to learn that it will take time and it’s about the business end, not the front end.
‘‘So we’re going to be a little bit under-cooked [for December].’’
Team New Zealand haven’t been on the water since they retired their first boat, Te Aihe, on October 10. But they have used their time wisely, being methodical with applying the crucial final touches to the boat that will defend the Auld Mug.
Shoebridge wasn’t giving any hints away on what the new boat might look like.
‘‘It’s a variation on a theme and I think we’ve seen that with the Luna Rossa boat and what the British boat has sort of morphed into, and even the American boat . . . all a slightly different way of getting there, but they are all converging a little bit,’’ he said.
‘‘There are subtle differences everywhere and the thing about this class is, the hull is the most obvious thing people see, but there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that you can’t see that are just as important.’’
Team New Zealand are comfortable with where they’re at, as they operate a different timeline to the challengers who start racing in earnest on January 15 in a Prada Cup series that runs deep into February.
‘‘We’re really looking forward to this week and finally getting in the water and time is moving quick,’’ Shoebridge said. ‘‘It’s interesting, you don’t want to get ahead of yourself, and we’re happy with the process we’ve taken to get where we are.
‘‘These boats take such a long time to build so a lot of those decision were made a long time ago now.
‘‘But today, we are pretty happy with where we sit, as probably most of the teams are. It’s just a matter of getting it out there and see how we perform.’’
Shoebridge said there were no doubts about the task in front of them as the three wellfunded challengers ramp up preparations, all having already got plenty of time on board their new boats.
‘‘Everyone has made big steps,’’ Shoebridge said of their rivals’ second-generation boats now under sail.
‘‘The thing that is noticeable for us is that those three teams have all landed in Auckland with intensity about them. They are all pushing hard, they’ve got a lot of sailing in, and they will be learning a lot of lessons.
‘‘It’s too early to see how that will play out in the challenger trials but there is going to be some great racing amongst them, that’s for sure.’’