Pair have winning bond

DYNAMIC DUO: Sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.PHOTO/JOHN STONE

IT'S obvious when you meet Olympian sailors Blair Tuke and Peter Burling that they are comfortable in each other's company.

The pair - who have enjoyed a beyond stellar year winning back-to-back world titles - bounce off one another seamlessly in conversation, while sitting in close proximity on a couch in a Paihia restaurant.

"We spend a heck of a lot of time together - well over 300 days of the year - so we have to have a good relationship," Kerikeri's Tuke told the Northern Advocate.

And that connection translates to when they are sailing, the 25-year-old said.

"There's a lot of communication that goes on the boat, but also a lot of it's just instinctive.

"We've been sailing together for six years now, you sort of learn and a lot of stuff just happens naturally, and as we keep going, that just keeps getting stronger."

The talented yachtsmen were in the Far North this week as part of a Air New Zealand and Department of Conservation promotion.

They have topped the podium in every major event they entered this year, including two ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas, the 49er European Championship in Helsinki, the 2014 Rio Olympic Test Event and the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Spain.

The highlight for the duo would be the World Champs, Tauranga's Burling said.

"It's kind of the one in the year you really want to win and it's the Olympic qualifier so it's really good to put a good performance there and have it done a race early.

"It's really pleasing for our campaign to really step it up and perform better - it's been a pretty good year."

The 2016 Rio Olympics are fast approaching for the London Olympic silver medallists; as is the 2017 America's Cup, after the duo signed with Emirates Team New Zealand in January.

For now, the priority is getting that gold in Rio, Tuke said. "That's our main goal so everything between now and 18 months' time - Rio - is gearing towards that.

"That's where our focus is, and obviously America's Cup as well so that's going to be a big juggling act."

It's a juggling act carefully managed with "a lot of planning, and we've got a few smart people around us that help us out to make sure we're not overdoing it in either area".

"But so far so good - they've both been complementing each other. Definitely the Cup stuff is helping our Olympic campaign at the moment, and with the right planning I think we should be able to keep doing that, right until the Olympics."

On Wednesday Bermuda was announced as the 2017 America's Cup venue, and Tauranga's Burling, 23, is just happy a date and place have been set.

"You can't really design a boat if you don't know where you're racing, and you can't really build a campaign if you don't know where you're racing - so now the guys upstairs can actually start trying to fund the campaign and we can all start setting our sights at that," he said.

Tuke plans to be on home turf in Kerikeri for Christmas and New Year's, and said his favourite part of coming home is spear-fishing or diving with his brothers or mates. "Any time on the water in the bay is pretty special."