Peter Lester: Team NZ have ability to be competitive in new multihulls

The BMW Oracle team, shown scooting away from Alinghi, are already designing boats for the next America's Cup. Photo / Supplied

Russell Coutts is such an innovative bloke, you knew his plans for the next America's Cup were going to be different - and he didn't disappoint.

There is a lot to get our heads around, but obviously the most drastic, and most controversial, change is the move to multihulls.

The AC72 class - a super high tech wing-masted catamaran - represents a new era of America's Cup sailing. At this stage, I guess I'm a little cautious about the move, but also hugely optimistic.

For a Team New Zealand supporter the initial reaction may have been "bugger, we've been gazzumped".

Emirates Team NZ were probably a bit disappointed with the announcement, although they wouldn't be surprised.

There's no doubt they have dominated big-boats, whether it be the America's Cup version 5s or TP52s, everything they've touched over the past couple of years, they've won.

But if they want to continue to play the game it's going to have to be in multihulls, that's the deal.

So all of Team NZ's focus must now be on transferring their success in the monohulls to these high-tech catamarans, which I think are going to be pretty exciting.

There's no doubt as things stand now, BMW Oracle have a huge advantage in that they have experience with the wing sail technology. But I'm certain Team NZ have the ability to bridge that gap and be competitive.

What they've got in that organisation is the ability to adapt and continually reinvent themselves.

Their track record in terms of prioritising, designing and then producing a great racing boat is pretty impeccable, so I don't have any doubts that they have the capacity to pull it off in that timeframe and be very, very competitive. But they'll need to adapt their strategies and their priorities.

There is a bit of concern out there over whether we have the expertise and experience in multihull sailing to pull it off. It will be interesting to see how well the existing people in key roles - like Dean Barker - adapt.

It'll certainly be a challenge for Barker, but I'm sure it will be a challenge he'll enjoy. But I'm expecting come 2013 we could see a vastly different make-up to the Team NZ crew. Physically, these boats will be extremely demanding to sail and will call for strong, agile sailors who are quick-thinkers.

But first and foremost you have to get a boat built, so the most important factor initially will be getting the right people for the design phase.

This technology calls for high-level engineering expertise in the area of high-performance aerodynamic, hydrodynamic-type stuff.

You have to design, build and test all that complex componentry, so that is where the initial big push has to be. If you were going down the traditionalist line I guess there may be some disappointment with the decision to take it super high-tech.

I was lucky enough to be at the 33rd America's Cup this year and I thought what BMW Oracle and Alinghi both came up with was out of this world. Seeing those boats hit top speed was a fantastic spectacle, so I'm not surprised Oracle have decided to stick with multihulls.

The sailing fraternity can sometimes be a little bit resistant to change, but I actually thought the version 5 might have done one America's Cup too many, so therefore the change feels like a big change.

If the 32nd America's Cup in 2007 had been in a more modern-type boat, the drive for change might not have been so strong.

In many ways the America's Cup had become a bit old and staid, and you've got to believe now it will freshen up and inject a bit of excitement back in to the event.