America's Cup would be better in Europe, says Coutts

10.45am

Former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts says yachting's America's Cup would be better off in Europe.

Coutts, who now skippers the Swiss Alinghi challenger, will line up against defender Team New Zealand in the best-of-nine match for the cup starting Saturday on the Hauraki Gulf.

Speaking during an Alinghi internet news conference today, Coutts said his team were well prepared for the contest.

Asked what it would mean for the cup if it moved to Europe, he replied, "well it's a nice thought".

"I'm sure if it did go to Europe most sailing people around the world would agree that the event will be bigger, and I think that in many ways that will be better for the event," he said.

"If we could have 20 syndicates lining up for this event, as opposed to 10 then I think that would be great for the event."

Alinghi design team co-ordinator Grant Simmer said in the past, each time the cup had moved it had allowed the event to grow and bring in new competitors.

"It probably would be good for the long term future of the cup for it to go to Europe."

Simmer said Alinghi's boat SUI-64 remained in much the same configuration as it had been for the final of the challenger series.

Team NZ's boat NZL-82 was "quite radical", he said.

"We're quite comfortable with where we're at, however we're anxious to see what happens on Saturday."

He had mixed feelings about the bulb on NZL-82 which he said appeared to be more than seven metres long.

"It's longer than anything we've tested. We don't think it was the right solution. We saw the same bulb when they unveiled both their boats (the first time in early January), and we decided that there was no way we would see that bulb for the cup," Simmer said.

He described Team NZ's hull appendage innovation, known as the hula, which fits snugly into much of the back half of the underside of the boat, as "an unfortunate development", which the defenders were using to try to improve their effective length.

It was a product of a cup rule preventing boats having hollows in their hulls.

"The studies we've done don't show it to be as big an advantage as ... they've promoted it as," Simmer said.

NZL-82 was 80mm to 90mm shorter than SUI-64 on measured length, so before the Team NZ boat was going to be any faster it had to be able to "grow back that length".

Despite Team NZ's efforts to hide the hull of their boats, Alinghi had seen the hula before Christmas, he said.

The Swiss team had immediately started working on a similar type of appendage on their second boat SUI-75.

"The results of our testing is that we decided not to use it on 64, even though we had planned or started building a whole new stern and hula assembly for 64," Simmer said.

"Our testing and the shapes we tested, which I stress were different from what we finally saw when they unveiled 81 and 82, didn't encourage us to modify 64."

Coutts indicated a protest from Alinghi against the hula was unlikely.

"I think the measurers are going to do a good job ensuring the hula complies, just like many things we have on our boats," he said.

"I can't imagine we would have enough information to lodge a protest."

The measurers were the only ones who could determine whether the hula was breaking the rules by touching the hull outside the area along the centre of the boat where it was attached, Coutts said.

- NZPA

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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