Oracle’s crew-work giving Kiwis an edge — Murray
Dana Johannsen
in Bermuda Team New Zealand performance coach Murray Jones believes Oracle’s poor showings over the first weekend of the America’s Cup match were as much to do with their crew-work as it was the equipment.
While Emirates Team New Zealand are happy with the performance of their boat, which has carried them to a 3-0 lead in the first-to-seven America’s Cup match, Jones believed the Kiwi team’s biggest advantage is in the way the likes of helmsman Peter Burling, wing trimmer Glenn Ashby and foil trimmer Blair Tuke were combining to sail the boat.
Jones, a five-time winner of the America’s Cup, believes Team NZ’s setup gives them “inherent advantages” over Oracle, who were making mistakes due to the way they have structured the team.
“They were slightly slower than us. It sort of looked worse than it actually was, because I don’t think they were sailing very well, so it made it look like they were slower than they actually were,” said Jones.
“I don’t expect them to look like a different team. They’ve been sailing like this for months, years really, so I can’t see them making any major changes this week.”
Asked if he thought Team NZ would be able to pick up where they left off in the opening weekend when the series resumes on Sunday, Jones responded:
“I just think we have some inherent advantages in the way we sail our boat, and that’s not going to change over this week.”
“We’re quietly confident we’ll be able to continue the way we’ve been sailing.”
One of the more obvious advantages Team NZ have on board is the pedal-grinding set-up, which allows the crew to generate more hydraulic power with less effort and also reduces windage.
Jones said the lesser-talked about advantage of this system is that it allows for a better division of labour.
“We have Pete [Burling], Glenn [Ashby], Blair [Tuke] and Andy [Maloney] each with different responsibilities.
“Oracle have Jimmy Spithill trying to fly the boat and steer, then you have Tom Slingsby doing the tactics, which is a little bit of a compromised role, because he is all over the place doing grinding and pedalling, sometimes at the front of the boat, sometimes at the back. It’s just not the easy relationship that Glenn and Pete have together when they are sitting side by side.
“I think they have a bit more time to sit there and assess things in a bit more calm way.”
The former Team NZ tactician’s confidence in the Kiwi team is intriguing given he has seen first-hand what Oracle are capable of. Jones was a member of the Oracle team that pulled off the incredible come-from-behind win from 8-1 down to reclaim the America’s Cup 9-8 at the last event in San Francisco.
He said he expected his former camp to be bold, but measured, in their approach to trying to cut their deficit.
“They would have sat down on Sunday and tried to digest the facts and draw up a list of what the possibilities were, what they could achieve in the week and they would have just prioritised them and started a programme of just working through it, and they will continue to work through it until [Sunday],”said Jones.
Dana Johannsen
travelled to Bermuda courtesy of Emirates Airlines