All you need to know
Team NZ and Oracle Team USA will face off for the Auld Mug once again. Here's all you need to know about the America's Cup clash. Tomorrow NZ time. We have racing on Sunday and Monday mornings from 5am. ( Saturday and Sunday in Bermuda). There are two races set down for both days. It's first to seven wins ( not five as in the Challenger final) so we won't have an America's Cup victor after the first two days. After Sunday and Monday's racing, there is a five- day break then we have further racing the following Sunday and Monday. If you enjoy a conspiracy theory, you might suggest Oracle want the time up their sleeve to further analyse the Kiwis or to improve their boat. Whoops, did we say that? In between, a Youth America's Cup will be raced. The break does give Team NZ a chance to test new equipment they believe can give them extra speed. There's a 40 per cent chance the boat for an hour, helping oversee the recovery as it was painstakingly nursed back to shore by the chase boats.
Fronting a press conference soon after he came to shore, Burling declared it would not be the end of the New Zealand campaign.
“As a group of New Zealanders we are incredibly resilient,” he said.
The pressure was on Burling to live up to his own spin.
The youngster copped some harsh criticism from several quarters for the handling error that led to the dramatic crash — though it must be noted that none came from those who have actually been at the helm of the highpowered catamarans.
Richard doesn’t believe his son would have been rattled by the incident.
“He wouldn’t have told us if he was,” he said. “I know he would have been frustrated because he knew it was so much work for the team and everyone back in the shed, and potentially could have cost them a couple of points as well if they had to race the next day.
“But the thing with him i s, all through his career, it doesn’t matter if he gets an OCS, or a first or middle or last, it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the next race.”
It was no surprise to Richard that two days later Burling — barefoot, as we have become accustomed to seeing him around the Team NZ base — breeze will be below 12 knots for the entire finals regatta. Team NZ have looked strong in light winds. The Americans won the round robin challenger series ahead of the Kiwis. The winner takes a point into the Cup final proper. Yes, it's controversial that Oracle even competed in the round robin but the Kiwis had their chance there to gain the advantage. Effectively, Team NZ needs to win eight races to win. That has to be Oracle no matter how parochial Kiwi fans are feeling. Jimmy Spithill is a proven performer and their boat looked good in the round robin Challenger series. Sky TV has live coverage from 5am with delayed free- to- air cover on Prime from 6.30am. Otherwise follow our popular live blog on nzherald. co. nz from 5am all race days as well as listening to the voice of yachting Peter Montgomery and expert match racer Chris Steele and their live call of the races on Radio Sport and Newstalk ZB. strode confidently to the rebuilt boat as though it was any other race day and, after that pre- start hiccup, set about wrapping up the series against the Brits. It’s that type of fearlessness that makes Team NZ boss Grant Dalton comfortable they have the right man at the helm to bring the Cup back to New Zealand.
“He commutes to work on a Thundercat, which i s an out- ofcontrol, rubber boat with a 50- horsepower engine that they leap all the way home on,” says Dalton.
“It’s that can- do, devil- may- care attitude, and they can win.”
Dalton came under fire for how Burling’s elevation was handled, after what should have been a straightforward succession plan from skipper Dean Barker became a messy public spat between the long- serving skipper and combative team boss.
Though there was an outpouring of sympathy for Barker, no one would doubt now that it was the right call.
Dalton said the energy Burling brought to an organisation still licking its wounds after the capitulation in San Francisco helped reinvigorate the team.
“One of the things about Pete is he lives and breathes sailing. He doesn’t have six kids and a mortgage, he just wants to be fast and doesn’t want to compromise.”