America’s Cup: Team New Zealand switch to dual helmsmen not as big a change as it seems, says Peter Burling

Team New Zealand have made a major shift in their operation.

When they set out to defend the America’s Cup in Barcelona late next year, they will do so having adopted a strategy that worked so well for challengers Luna Rossa in Auckland in 2021; introducing a dual helm set up with Peter Burling sharing the duties with new recruit Nathan Outteridge.

Visually, it is a big change. The decision limits the need for sailors to move to the other side of the boat for manoeuvers and will see the distribution of the sailors onboard change as well.

But in terms of the sailing itself, Burling suggested it’s not quite the drastic change that people might think.

“It’s probably a lot more similar to how we were sailing in the last America’s Cup than what it looks from the outside,” Burling explained to the Herald.

“For us I think the big difference is you end up sitting in your seat and not moving. I think it just opens up a whole lot more possibilities of what you can do with the boat; how accurately you can sail and trim and make decisions around the racetrack.”

The dual helming system isn’t too dissimilar to how Team New Zealand sailed in Auckland, when Glenn Ashby would take the helm at times while Burling was changing sides.

What the team took away from that iteration of their AC75 setup when compared to the dual helming approach Luna Rossa ran was the unnecessary movement on board. Add in the reduction of crew size from 11 to eight for next year’s regatta in Barcelona, and Burling said something the change in their approach needed to be made.

“We still haven’t 100 per cent locked in on how exactly we want to sail the boat. There are a few options around but I think one thing that showed up last time was just how tight the racing is, especially if you start short tacking or a tacking duel, having that downtime of people crossing the boat is incredibly inefficient,” Burling said.

“So, we’ve tried to divvy up the roles around the boat in a more efficient way. We’re still learning a bit about it but we feel like we’re tracking towards a pretty good solution.”

Outteridge is in his first campaign in a fairly settled Team New Zealand crew but is no stranger to the America’s Cup after sailing with Swedish challenger Artemis Racing in the 2013 and 2017 regattas.

He is also a multiple-time world champion, two-time Olympic medalist and had success at the helm of the now-defunct Japanese SailGP team as well.

But while he’s a new face in the environment, Burling said past battles have helped him establish good relationships on the water quickly.

“I’ve had a really long relationship with Nathan; most of it has been more on the competitive side than the teammate side but we come from a very similar background,” Burling said.

“We’ve got a lot of respect for each other, and it’s been great; some new ideas coming into the team. It’s always good to have a little bit of turnover with people just to keep things fresh; new minds trying to push everything forward. So, it’s been really fun collaborating towards what we think is going to be a pretty good solution.”

One of the major changes for Burling at the helm will be the additional time he is able to have his head out of the boat and analysing the conditions as opposed to having to be solely focused on just one aspect of the race from start to finish.

Outside of their work in their reconfigured AC75 Te Rehutai, the introduction of the scaled-down AC40s for this cycle has played a key role in the team being able to work on the readjusted roles. The AC40 only has room for four crew members, with two at the helm and two controlling the sails.

With Team New Zealand having both its one-design AC40, which will be used in the upcoming preliminary regatta, and their LEQ12 development AC40, they have made the most of being able to race the two vessels against each other to develop their communication as well as their performance on the water.

That will be on show when the six America’s Cup syndicates take to the waters of Vilanova i La Geltrú in September, the first opportunity they will get to race against one another.