“It was pretty unreal actually getting the feel of the boat. In the simulator, you can play all the controls and watch it on the screen, but you just don’t get the feeling [of] blasting along,” Gunn said after an on-water session this week.
While several members of the youth and women’s teams are away with Olympic sailing and other commitments, those at home have been getting some vital time on the AC40 proper.
Gunn and women’s team sailor Gemma Jones got their first opportunity to sail the vessel this week, while Leo Takahashi and Liv Mackay were able to refamiliarise themselves with the set up, having been part of Team New Zealand’s two-boat testing programme last year.
“Getting on the water is a huge step forward for the women’s team,” Mackay said. “Gemma and I were both sailing on board with Josh [Junior] and Marcus [Hansen], for me it all came back pretty quickly from my sailing last year and Gemma was doing an awesome job straight off. So it’s a really exciting time, we can’t wait for more.”
Team New Zealand sailors Junior, Hansen and Sam Meech were on the water to oversee the quartet, as the team eye more opportunities for two-boat testing now the AC40 is back on home waters.
Speaking of the new training opportunities for the youth and women’s teams, Junior said it was important not to completely throw them in the deep end.
“We’ll slowly build up with the crews, obviously we don’t want to just throw them all on the boat at once,” he said. “But as everyone gains more confidence and with all the training they’ve done on the simulator, they’ll be out there on their own soon enough.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
