Young Kiwi sailor Peter Burling will take the helm of Team New Zealand for the first time in a competitive outing today for round three of the Extreme Series in Qingdao, China.
Emirates Team New Zealand skipper and director of sailing Dean Barker has led the team for the firsttwo regattas of the series in Oman and Singapore. But with the Kiwi team keen to develop new talent ahead of a possible America's Cup challenge in 2017, Burling gets his chance in China.
The Olympic silver medallist is seen as a strong rival to Barker's position at the helm of the Kiwi boat at the next Cup.
Joining Burling in the crew in Qingdao will be his Olympic sailing partner, Blair Tuke. The world champion 49er pair have come off a successful ISAF World Cup season in Europe, winning gold at the final regatta in Hyeres, France, at the weekend, backing up their win in Spain earlier in the month.
Burling, who made his Olympic debut at the Qingdao venue in 2008 when he was just 17, said he was looking forward to the change-up in pace and tactics when he moves into the 40ft catamarans this week.
"The team has a lot of great sailors and there are only [five] of those on the Extreme 40 so we need to swap it through the year to give everyone some time to up their skills," he said.
"For me, it has been really great that the team has been able to split the events so we can all do a lot of different types of sailing this year. I'm really looking forward to doing my bit to try and get the team up the rankings."
Team NZ are third in the series behind Oman-based team The Wave (19 points) and their former America's Cup rivals Alinghi (18 points).
The Kiwi team are using the regattas to keep their sailing team active while they await an announcement from defenders Oracle Team USA on the protocol for the next America's Cup. The announcement was originally expected in late March, but over a month has now passed with no word on when the details will be revealed.
Mid-range conditions are expected for today's opening races in Qingdao, with winds of up to 15 knots.
They are sailing ETNZ crew for round 3 of the Extreme 40 series in Qingdao: Peter Burling (skipper) Glenn Ashby (main trimmer) Blair Tuke (headsail trimmer) Jeremy Lomas (bowman) Edwin Delaat (floater)
