America's Cup niggle-o-meter: 'It's hotting up'

Jimmy Spithill of Oracle Team USA. Photo / Ricardo Pinto.

The America's Cup has become known as much for the off-water antics as it has for the on-water action. The event's history is one rich with diplomatic squabbling, jealously guarded secrets, deceit, mind games and out-and-out feuds between sailors. The 35th America's Cup has thus far been no different. To assess the level of unrest in Bermuda, the Herald have come up with a highly scientific measurement - behold the niggle-o-meter.

Ah, the traditional pre-America's Cup skippers press conference. It's a time for all the skippers to come together and sit awkwardly along the top table and partake in the ceremonial first shots being fired between the competitors.

Oracle Team USA, the regatta overlords, pulled a swifty from the outset by renaming it the "helmsman press conference", which meant Team NZ's wise-cracking skipper Glenn Ashby was left out of the fun. Sorry Glenn, they don't like your gags.

Instead America's Cup newbie Peter Burling was put forth into the firing line, where his renowned resilience was put to the test by Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill, who wasted little time in warming into his favourite task - Kiwi baiting.

Spithill doesn't do subtle digs. In a series of pre-prepared salvos, he managed to turn virtually every question into an opportunity to take a swipe at Team NZ. We were watching the master at work.

But if Spithill was looking to rile up Burling, he picked the wrong man. This is the guy that was so furious after Ben Ainslie plowed into Team NZ in a practice race, he declared the Brit's actions as "unnecessary". Ouch! Take that Ben.

Burling had a look of indifference as Spithill took aim at Team NZ boss Grant Dalton for alienating his team from the rest of the syndicates, even suggesting some in the Kiwi camp were unhappy with Dalton's approach but could not speak out.

Spithill also refused to give the Kiwis any credit for their radical pedal grinding innovation, which Oracle are now looking to adopt, because it was invented 40 years ago by the Swedes you dummies! Spithill says every campaign he's been involved with the question of cycle-grinding comes up, although curiously they just never answered in the affirmative until they saw Team NZ doing it.

Other than Spithill's barbs, it was pretty much a love-in. Even Ainslie couldn't bring himself to fire up when asked why his boat isn't very fast.