Ashby: Team NZ must be better to defend Cup

Australian Glenn Ashby is committed to Team New Zealand and says they will have to raise their game from Bermuda to successfully defend the America’s Cup in 2021.

Ashby, Emirates Team New Zealand’s wing trimmer from San Francisco 2013 and skipper in Bermuda, has been on a retaining contract with the Cup holders and confirmed his intentions to be part of the defence scheduled for Auckland 2021.

It seems not even increasing talk of an Australian challenge will persuade Ashby to leave the champion Kiwi syndicate.

‘‘My roots here in New Zealand are very deep, they have consolidated over the past seven to eight years. I can count on very close links,’’ Ashby told Italian newspaper La Stampa.

‘‘That said, it would be great to see an Australian team, as well as other teams, in the field. What would I do? I repeat, my relationship with Team New Zealand is very strong and I cannot wait to be able to defend the Cup in New Zealand.

‘‘For me, Team New Zealand is a big family. It was an important part of my life, personal and family. The relationships, the bonds that are formed within the team represent something very special for me,’’ Ashby said.

‘‘There are not many Australians in the team, but it is also true that the team is currently surprisingly multicultural, despite being on a very solid Kiwi cultural base. I think it’s silly not to look globally to look for talent, while defending your identity and your core values.’’

Multihull specialist Ashby wouldn’t be drawn into a discussion on whether he would be retained as skipper with Team New Zealand returning to monohulls, with an exciting 75-foot foiling design set to revolutionise the sport.

Ashby said they weres till looking at the dynamics of the sailing team.

‘‘For now there is a group and we haven’t finalised on board roles. We are trying to figure out how to build a very strong team, more than we had been in Bermuda. So what I can say right now is that we will have to raise the level compared to Bermuda to be able to win in Auckland in three years.’’

Ashby said he was excited by the change from catamarans to monohulls.

‘‘At the end of the day it is always about sailing and high performance sailing requires more or less the same thing. So, the ‘good guys’, whether they are sailors, engineers, designers, men, women, are people who can move on to any type of boat.

‘‘And fortunately we have many ‘good guys’. In the last Cup campaign we had a great mix of youth, experience and knowledge. I do not know what will happen in the future, but I know you have to have the right people around you to face the future and make sure you can do it better, to be able to do your best.

‘‘My background is that of the sailor. I am also a professional sailmaker. Sailing has been a sport, a passion and a way of life for a good part of my life. I want to be absolutely involved in the development of the campaign. The tests of the boat, its set-up are what excites me and makes me love my sport.

‘‘I want to be at the forefront of the hull project and do it both in the water and on the development and control benches, I think it’s the best I can do to be useful for the team.’’

The new class rule will be unveiled on March 31, giving challengers the necessary details for construction.

Ashby expected Team New Zealand’s first boat to be designed by August.