Sips from the Cup: Coutts displays all his old skills in unofficial regatta

Compiled by JULIE ASH

It seems former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts was the man to watch in the unofficial Challenger of Record Management regatta.

OneWorld, GBR, Alinghi, Prada and Oracle all took part in the regatta, which was a trial run for race staff. Officially there was no winner, but unofficially there was - Coutts.

At the helm of the reconstructed Be Happy, the old Swiss boat, Coutts showed he is still a hotshot on the Hauraki Gulf by guiding his Alinghi team to success in tricky conditions.

"It was good to get out there and race against some of the other teams," Coutts said. "But it confirmed that a lot of the challengers are a lot more prepared than last time.

"I really do think this will be the most exciting America's Cup yet."

Seven months out from the Louis Vuitton Cup, Coutts is happy with Alinghi's progress.

"It is going pretty well. The weather has meant we are fairly pushed for time in our own programme becauses we are a bit behind in terms of sailing, but I think we will be okay."

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Former Assa Abloy skipper Roy Heiner has joined Oracle Racing on a trial arrangement.

Dutchman Heiner sailed in the first leg of the round-the-world race before he was replaced by Neal McDonald.

Heiner, who has competed in the last four Olympic Games, has been given the responsibility of helming one of Oracle's training boats.

He brings a wealth of sailing experience to the team, including an impressive list of dinghy sailing achievements and numerous matchracing successes.

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Team New Zealand's Hamish Pepper, Tony Rae and James Dagg competed on SAP chief executive's Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory at the Acura Southern Ocean Racing Conference in Miami Beach.

The New Zealanders helped guide Morning Glory to fourth place, which also served as the United States Farr 40 championship.

The three will sail with Dean Barker in next week's Steinlager-Line 7 Cup, the fourth event of Swedish Match Tour 2001-02. Barker and team are in a three-way tie for fourth place overall on the leaderboard.

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"Syndicate Row" will be a little quieter over the next few months.

Seven of the nine challengers have been in Auckland over the summer months.

Only Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes and France's Le Defi Areva have opted to stay away. But with winter approaching, at least four syndicates are going home.

Britain's GBR Challenge will spend next month and May at home before returning with the newly-launched GBR70 in early June. Prada are heading back to Italy until August.

The second Italian challenge, Mascalzone Latino, has arrived in Auckland for a month's training. They return to Italy next month and hope to be back in Auckland in July.

Alinghi and OneWorld have said they will stay through to the Louis Vuitton Cup start in October and Oracle Racing are undecided.

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