High winds tipped for crunch race

By HELEN TUNNAH and AGENCIES

Team New Zealand head into the race of their lives today facing conditions that could approach those of last Saturday's disaster.

Lights at the team's base burned late into the night yesterday as the shore crew readied NZL82 for its crucial race in winds forecast to reach 20 knots or above.

Alinghi, brimming with confidence, lead Team New Zealand 3-0 in the best-of-nine series, and need just two more wins from the last six races to lift the trophy from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's trophy cabinet.

Few involved with the America's Cup believe Team New Zealand could recover from a fourth consecutive loss, and win five out of five against Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth, making today's race critical.

However, chief executive Ross Blackman insisted the entire team remained "in amazingly good heart".

Winds are predicted to vary from 15 to 20-knot southwesterlies, possibly higher, with choppy seas, which conventional wisdom says should suit the New Zealanders.

But conventional wisdom took a battering last Saturday when the team were forced out of the opening race after just 25 minutes in gusty winds and choppy seas. Taking on tonnes of water, NZL82 suffered a series of gear failures. Their backup boat, NZL81, was also damaged in the conditions.

Neither Alinghi nor Team New Zealand went sailing yesterday in Auckland's poor weather.

Team New Zealand will unveil their team makeup today amid growing speculation that skipper Dean Barker might make minor changes to his crew.

The inexperience of the new-look Team New Zealand squad limits Barker's options, but he may consider positional or crew switches within his afterguard.

While he, as helmsman and skipper, has come under the spotlight for his driving of the boat, the role of the entire "brains trust" will have been scrutinised, especially after Barker admitted to some "confusion" in the tactical decision-making before the third race.

That includes reviewing the roles of Hamish Pepper and Peter Evans, the tactician and strategist, navigator Mike Drummond and Adam Beashel.

After their third loss, Barker defended the work of his crew, saying dropping three races put them in a tough position but the team were not giving up.

"We don't think we're doing anything particularly badly," he said.

However, there is no escaping the fact that the New Zealand thinkers are up against the best in the regatta.

As well as Coutts and Butterworth, Alinghi's afterguard boasts triple Olympic gold medallist Jochen Schuemann of Germany.

Just eight sailors in Team New Zealand's full squad have previously sailed in an America's Cup match, and of the three key positions, only Barker raced in the last regatta. Pepper and Evans remained on the backup boat.

Drummond alternated as navigator with design guru and now syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg.

Yesterday, Schnackenberg said a quick-fix approach would not resolve anything, as it would take time for new combinations to become comfortable.

"The trick is to say it's happened and it's in the past. The hill is actually no harder, it's just five wins. The difference is that we have fewer lives."

Continuous coverage of today's America's Cup race will begin on nzherald.co.nz at 12.30pm.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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