Rivals circle Team NZ design team
It is inevitable some of Kiwi group’s intellectual property will walk out the door over next America's Cup cycle Trouble raises boat crash possibility
Just how far will Oracle Team USA go to keep the America's Cup?
America's Cup Hall of Fame member Bruno Trouble told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking the American crew could create a collision on the water with Team New Zealand since they have the option to use a second boat and Team New Zealand don't.
Oracle were meant to declare whether they have a second boat before the start of the qualifying series — and didn't.
However, Oracle’s close partnership with Team Japan could see them try and claim Dean Barker's boat as their second.
Oracle helmsman Jimmy Spithill didn't deny his team had the option up their sleeve, saying this week “I'm hoping we're not going to need it”.
Team New Zealand lead the America's Cup series 3-0 after the opening four races.
Trouble said causing a crash is a big fear but he thinks sportsmanship should stop it from happening.
“This time, the boats are onedesign, so they can't do much except maybe have a big collision with Team New Zealand, which is a big fear," Trouble said.
“I don't think they will do that because they are sportsmen and they should not do that but this is maybe the only thing they can do unless the conditions are very different. But it looks like the conditions will be quite the same.” teams are virtually starting from scratch each time.
“There is a lot of IP in the team, although a lot of what we do is quite visible and inevitably from one Cup cycle to the next it is impossible to keep an entire team together. There are always a few people for one reason or another end up going to another team,” he said.
“Even if this class of boat stays pretty similar next time, the level of which we would be in three years’ time would be so much further on. In a way, you certainly of take the experience, but you’re sort of starting again from scratch.
“What is state of the art now would become pretty outdated by the next Cup. You look at what the foils looked like in San Francisco and now I look and them and think ‘I can’t believe we were designing foils that looked like that’.”