Team NZ ‘the whole package’
Team New Zealand have plenty of dry powder for the defence of the America’s Cup while the struggling British syndicate, INEOS Team UK, has the ability to be competitive for the challenger series.
That’s the view of one of the world’s leading sail experts as all four teams are back on the water in Auckland.
American Ken Read, president of North Sails, the world’s biggest sailmakers, and an America’s Cup veteran who is on the international TV broadcast team in Auckland, has made some bold predictions for the new year as teams bury themselves into testing on the back of December’s world series regatta which debuted racing for the radical 75-foot foiling monohulls.
Defenders Team New Zealand, who returned to training on Monday, won the world series event while INEOS Team UK were a distant last, losing all of their races.
Read sees plenty of gains left for Team New Zealand who must train alone now until March 6 when they defend the Auld Mug against the leading challenger from the Prada Cup series, which starts on January 15.
‘‘I think they expected to be fast,’’ Read told Planet Sail of Team New Zealand in his assessment of the teams with a fascinating eye on their sail packages.
‘‘I think they expected to be a little bit faster in comparison to the group, but they know they have the building blocks and they have plenty of powder dry.’’
Read felt Team New Zealand were ahead of their rivals with their sail package as they had been at San Francisco 2013 and Bermuda 2013.
‘‘This is Team New Zealand’s third foiling campaign ... they had the most integrated sail system of anybody in Bermuda, and they have done it again here,’’ said Read, who has three Cup campaigns under his belt, multiple round the word experience and nine world titles that have helped him win the world sailor of the year award twice.
‘‘It’s the whole package. Team New Zealand have more sail control at this stage but the other teams are adding things on as we speak.’’
Sir Ben Ainslie’s INEOS Team UK outfit have been busy since the world series where their disappointing light airs performance was exposed, and have emerged with their boat shed with what appears to be a new rig and sail package. They have been testing with success in lighter airs that have been in Auckland since the new year.
Getting the Brits competitive would be a huge boost to the Prada Cup which has looked like being a battle between Italians Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic.
Read, who was twice part of Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes syndicate, feels progress is possible for Ainslie.
‘‘I’m going to go out on a limb right now and say they are going to be competitive by the time we get around to this [Prada Cup],’’ he told Planet Sail, though admitted they faced difficulties in making major adjustments so late.