America's Cup: Team NZ weighing up regatta logistics

By JULIE ASH

Team New Zealand plan to take part in the first America's Cup pre-regatta in Marseille in September but have yet to officially enter.

The regatta is limited to just eight teams due to space restrictions and five have already signed up.

Joining Alinghi and Oracle on the startline are French teams Le Defi and K-Challenge and South Africa's Shosholoza team.

The event, from September 5-11, starts the pre-regattas which will be held every year leading up to the 2007 America's Cup.

Two more will be held in Valencia in October.

From next year the pre-regattas will be used to help seed the challengers for the 2007 challenger series.

Team New Zealand's managing director Grant Dalton has said the syndicate were planning to take part in this year's events but would first weigh up the logistics of attending as well as which teams were competing.

* Larry Ellison's syndicate have changed their name from Oracle BMW Racing to BMW Oracle Racing.

Syndicate chief executive and skipper Chris Dickson said the renaming reflected a new team and the more significant role of BMW in the campaign.

"The co-operation with BMW enables us to benefit from technological innovations in the automobile sector."