America's Cup: Bermuda Shorts

Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand in pre race manouvers for race six. Photo / Photosport.

Pete's personal touch

Peter Burling continues to impress with his personal touch in Bermuda. Sailing Illustrated magazine reports that Burling is said "to know the names of everyone connected with the team, as well as their spouses and even kids". The magazine reported that "at meals he sits with the engineers, not just the other sailors (or gets the sailors to join him), and has a constant back-and-forth with the engineers on how things really work, and what ifs".

Less is more

Team NZ also seems to be doing a good job keeping a lid on an area that brought them undone in San Francisco four years ago. There are plenty who will tell you that Team NZ overdid the sponsor fulfillment programme to their detriment. It is noticeably quieter in that area in Bermuda. The whisper is Peter Burling and Blair Tuke convinced team leadership to take a page out of their Olympic playbook and minimise distractions.

Russell's 'olive branch'

The international sailing media is reporting that Sir Russell Coutts has patched up his fallout with Alinghi's Ernesto Bertarelli. Coutts is said to have extended an "olive branch" to Bertarelli who is in Bermuda to watch the Cup finals. The pair had a chat during a quiet reunion of Alinghi sailors onboard Bertarelli's super-yacht. Coutts continues to suggest this could be his last Cup. Nobody believes him.

Kiwi fans dominate

The America's Cup Event Authority's popular 'dock-out' shows, so popular in San Francisco in 2013, have been dumped in Bermuda. The reason? The obvious imbalance of fan support for Team NZ and Oracle. Sailing Illustrated reported that Team NZ were getting a strong turn-out of "rabid, flag-waving fans (including many locals) for the race-day dock-out shows, while the number of Oracle supporters was embarrassingly small".
Quote of the day
"It was great to see a bit of fight out of these boys." Peter Burling has a subtle dig at Oracle and turns the tables on Jimmy Spithill.

Tweet of the day

From a panicky Kiwi: "In the future, 'Bermuda' will be a lesson taught in New Zealand schools over retaining humility."

Get up for the Cup

Today's Team NZ sailing action starts at 5.12am. The second race will be around 5.57am. The team is on the water at 5am or thereabouts. Listen live to sailing guru Peter Montgomery's call of the Team NZ race on Newstalk ZB or Radio Sport, and join us for live blog coverage - and all the news that follows - to stay up to speed with what's happening on and off the water.