By JULIE ASH
A mixture of sailing and rest are on the agenda for the Team New Zealand and Alinghi crews as the countdown to the America's Cup continues.
With the best-of-nine series starting on Saturday, the last few days for both crews have involved some sailing, some fine-tuning and some
rest - all of which will continue until race one.
"We will try to sail every day up until the match," Alinghi strategist Jochen Schuemann said.
"We want to assess our sails and make sure that we are fully confident of our technique, what we use and at what moment."
Team New Zealand and Alinghi have spent close to three years preparing for the event.
Endless hours have been spent milling over design plans, testing ideas, building yachts and training crew members.
Both have also spent some serious money - Team New Zealand's budget is estimated to be around $85 million and Alinghi's $120 million.
But now the yachts have been unveiled, the crews are primed and just five wins stand between one of the teams and the cup.
Team New Zealand syndicate head and navigator Tom Schnackenberg said they will always be looking for ways to make the boat go faster.
"Sometimes what you do between now and the end of the fifth win is important," Schnackenberg said.
"It is not like we have done all we have to do. We have a lot of work to do and how we do it may determine the outcome."
Schnackenberg recalled the 1983 cup when he was a sail designer for Australia II, who beat Liberty 4-3 and became the first non-American team to win the cup.
"That regatta went for something like 14 days and in the end it was the way we behaved over those days.
"We made quite a few improvements during the race which were important," he said.
Race one of the America's Cup is on Saturday at 1.15pm. The boats are expected to leave the Viaduct around 10am.
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Racing schedule and results
