It’s exactly one year until the America’s Cup Qualifiers - the start of the Cup regatta - is scheduled to get underway. Five syndicates including Emirates Team New Zealand will line up for a chance to challenge Oracle Team USA for the Auld Mug.
Twelve months out, how is Team NZ progressing in its quest?
Sailing Team: A
To pull out the most obvious of sporting cliches, it’s been smooth sailing. Team NZ currently sit on top of the AC World Series after five regattas. Consistency has been the key: two of those events the Kiwis have also taken regatta honours, and they’ve only finished off the podium four times in eighteen races.
In short, Team NZ’s sailing team has an excellent core. At last count skipper Glenn Ashby has fifteen world titles to his name across various multi-hull classes. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s exploits in the 49er class are well documented, though even more remarkable has been the pair’s ability to juggle Cup commitments while maintaining Olympic form heading towards Rio.
Add tactician Ray Davies to the mix and some added muscle on the grinding pedestals and the Kiwi crew will be a formidable force come the Cup proper next year.
Design & Development: B
Dating back to the Cup’s origin in 1851, the America’s Cup is a design race. Spoiler alert: the fastest boat always wins. It’s hard to gauge exactly where all the teams sit because the boats that will sail for the Cup - the AC48 - won’t hit the water until next year. At this stage all the teams are deep into the development phase.
Compared to the other teams, Team NZ were a little behind in that area. Oracle, BAR and Artemis have multiple testing boats in the water, while Team Japan will be assisted by Oracle thanks to their alignment with the defenders.
Team NZ’s own partnership with Luna Rossa has provided a huge boost, plus the fact the AC48 will have limited scope for variation thanks to its one design components, there’s enough there to think Team NZ won’t be left behind.
Management: A
So often in the America’s Cup, the off water wrangling can overshadow and influence the action on the water, so it’s worth looking at the performance of management at this stage.
The leadership of Grant Dalton and Kevin Shoebridge are working well, with Dalton spending a lot of time offshore chasing sponsorship money.
The majority of the big sponsors are back on board, and more money is always better though the loss of a regatta in Auckland (still to be reviewed by an arbitration panel) and the associated loss of government investment was a major blow. The partnership with Luna Rossa was invaluable on that level, saving money that would’ve otherwise gone to development. But from a financial standpoint the Kiwis are on solid ground thanks to the front office.
However one thing San Francisco taught us is not to get ahead of ourselves. There’s still a lot of water to sail before the Qualifiers begin next year, and a lot of simulations to be run through the designer’s computers. All we can safely say is Team New Zealand will be in the mix.
Team NZ celebrate winning the New York Regatta (Photosport file)
Overall: A
It’s hard to work out where Team NZ sits, or any of the teams because of that big point in the design section: the boats that will be sailed in Bermuda won’t hit the water until next year. Until then it’s a guessing game as to how the teams are progressing.
With all of their resources Oracle will be tough to beat, more so thanks to a playing field slanted in the defender’s favour. Ben Ainslie has put together a strong team, and Artemis will be a lot stronger than their ill-fated campaign in San Francisco.
Dean Barker’s team Japan will get better though they’re closer to the back of the fleet with Team France than the front.
So where does Team NZ slot into that mix? A year out I’d put them in the challenger finals with BAR, but beyond that point we’ll have to wait and see. If we learned anything from San Francisco it’s not to get ahead of ourselves.
Newshub.