America's Cup: Design chief free to take ideas to rivals

Nick Holroyd will head out the door with a wealth of intellectual property from nearly two decades with the syndicate. Photo / Greg Bowker

Former Team New Zealand design chief Nick Holroyd is free to take his wealth of intellectual property to other America's Cup teams after quitting the troubled Kiwi syndicate.

The Herald revealed today Holroyd has walked out on Team NZ after 18 years with the syndicate, along with sailors Winston Macfarlane and Derek Saward.

Holroyd would not be drawn on why he had quit the team effectively mid-way through the design project for the new AC48 catamarans, which will be sailed at the 2017 event in Bermuda.

Design chief sailing away from Team NZ

"I'm limiting my comments to avoid collateral damage to a lot of close friends still there," he said.

But Holroyd, who lead the team's design operations during the last Cup cycle, confirmed Team NZ had not imposed a restraint of trade on him, leaving him free to link up with other Cup teams. That will be a worrying proposition for Team NZ, with Holroyd a key figure in helping the Kiwis keep pace in the design race during the last campaign, making the quantum leap from monohulls to high-performance foiling multihulls.

Team NZ 2013 crew - Where are they now?

There is speculation Holroyd, a naval architect and engineer, may join his good friend and former Team NZ skipper Dean Barker at new challenger, Team Japan.

It is understood Team NZ have not been so generous with its severance terms with Macfarlane and Saward, preventing the pair from joining other syndicates - a curious step given Barker and Holroyd have been free to go.

In a statement released to the Herald last night, Emirates Team NZ said they would not comment on "personnel issues".

"We remain on track to mount a competitive challenge for the 35th Americas Cup and Grant Dalton is currently in Europe pursuing some very exciting opportunities for the team," the statement read.

Macfarlane was also reluctant to comment on the reasons behind his resignation.
"It's for a whole lot of personal reasons that I don't really want to get into," he said.

Saward, who is understood to be competing at an event in Europe this week, could not be contacted.

A former member of Team NZ said Saward was one of the outstanding performers in San Francisco and will be a big loss for the team.

"He was one of our real stars last time. That guy came in as a first-time grinder and he was by far our best grinder, he's just an amazing yachtsman. He made the first-choice crew in his first America's Cup campaign, which is pretty rare."

The departure of the two grinders leaves just four members of the 2013 crew still in place at Team NZ. Only wing trimmer Glenn Ashby, who has been promoted to sailing director, tactician Ray Davies, pitman Jeremy Lomas, and Richard Meacham, the team's bowman, are still at the syndicate after a tumultuous 18 months since Team NZ returned from San Francisco.