KEY POINTS:
Hamish Pepper is frantically rifling through his pockets on the streets of Valencia, but it's not looking good.
He and fellow Kiwi Carl Williams, world champions in the Star boat, have been packing up house in Spain ready to head off to neighbouring Portugal, where they will begin
to defend their world title early next week.
It's been an ugly job, lugging everything into storage in the heat of the Valencia summer, while the America's Cup - which spat them both out - revs up in the background.
They've had a meagre three days on the water together since Williams went off to work with Cup challenger BMW Oracle last November. Their boat sits idle in the old +39 Challenge base, waiting to be towed across the border.
As he's on the phone from Valencia, Pepper realises he's locked his keys inside his second-floor apartment.
"It's been a bit of a nightmare," he says.
Their luck has to change for the better in the coming days, when they head out to retain their world Star title off the Atlantic coastline of Cascais. They know it won't be all smooth sailing, after spending so little time together in the run-up to this regatta.
If they can't win the regatta, their next aim is to qualify New Zealand for a spot in the Star class at next year's Beijing Olympics.
The Kiwi sailors took the class by storm last October, when in their rookie season, they snatched first the world championships in San Francisco, and a month later, the Star North American champs in Miami.
Of course, neither man is new to sailing: Pepper is a double-Olympian in the Laser and was the tactician taken to task over Team New Zealand's on-the-water failings in 2003; Williams, son of sailing legend Penny Whiting, now has two Cup campaigns behind him.
The yachtsmen and their families have lived in Valencia for the past two years, putting their belongings in storage "waiting to see where the next America's Cup goes", Pepper says.
While Williams sailed as a grinder for the Larry Ellison challenge, Pepper continued on the Star circuit with stand-in crew. He won the Bacardi Cup in Miami with four-time Olympian Australian David Giles, and raced in other regattas with American Brad Nicol. He managed to keep his world ranking in the top three.
"It's pretty tough bringing different people on board the boat, with their different personalities and styles. Tiny [Williams] and I get on pretty well, we sail pretty well together, so it's not ideal," says Pepper, known in the sailing world as "Pepsi". "But it's been good to put a new boat in the water and work through the teething problems. It's served its purpose."
When BMW Oracle were knocked out of the Louis Vuitton Cup in the semifinals, it caught Pepper on the hop.
"I wasn't expecting Tiny to be there this soon - I had plenty of other stuff to do. Still, I was 95 per cent sure he would be at the worlds with me," says Pepper, wryly. "He learned a lot from sailing with Oracle, but he's happy to be back in our boat. He probably improved as a sailor, and that's great for us.
"The big thing is getting him comfy in the boat again. We've managed three days in the boat since November, then on top of that, he's pretty new to the class anyway. He's probably only had 60 days in the boat altogether.
"It's going to be a pretty conservative regatta for us. We just want to keep the rig in, and cross the finish line. Of course we'd like to win it again, but to make the top 10 and qualify New Zealand in the class for the Olympics is our basic goal.
"If we finish outside the top 10, then maybe we'll be a little upset."
After the worlds, Pepper returns home to Auckland briefly - his fiance is expecting their first child in September - before he meets Williams again at the pre-Olympic regatta in Qingdao.
In their quest to win gold next year, the New Zealanders plan to set up base in the home of Star sailing, Miami - and earn their tickets to the Olympics.
It won't be hard saying adios to Valencia. Pepper has found it rough going not being in the thick of cup action this time. He was to have called strategy for the Italian Mascalzone Latino challenge but ended his contract in 2005 after a difference in opinion over the direction of the team.
"Sure, I miss it. especially now seeing Team New Zealand and Alinghi out there racing. It's pretty tough," Pepper says.
"But there's always going to be another America's Cup, and you know there's a high chance you will be involved in another team."
