New team, old thirst for victory

By JULIE ASH

Love him or hate him, in a little over a week's time Russell Coutts and his Swiss team, Alinghi, will line up as favourites to win the challenger series and the right to race Team New Zealand for the America's Cup.

Looking at the Alinghi Challenge, backed by Swiss pharmaceutical billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, it is easy to see why they are rated so highly.

Money may not buy them the cup but it has supplied Alinghi with everything else: a flash base, good designers and some of the best sailors in the business.

"If people want to label us a favourites, fine," says Coutts.

"If they want to label us as underdog, fine. If I thought it affected the result it would worry me but as it doesn't, I couldn't care less."

Along with their big budget and talent, Alinghi's tag as favourites comes after their success in the informal racing that all of the challengers have engaged in.

"Until the racing starts you can't judge it," Coutts says.

"We spend months and months doing our own testing out on the water and sometimes we are even confused about that. So how much can you draw from racing someone once?"

Competing in his third cup, Coutts' eyes light up when asked about the challenge that lies ahead.

While he is aware that emotions still run high over his defection from Team New Zealand, not even the controversial BlackHeart campaign, which he refuses to comment on, can stifle Coutts' enthusiasm for America's Cup racing.

"I love the competition. The development intrigues me and this time the challenge of putting together a new team offshore has been great."

Coutts, who has a background in engineering, is obviously excited about what he sees around him.

"Even in the informal racing some of the big teams have been beaten.

"I doubt whether anyone is going to be completely dominant throughout the series."

He says there is more difference in the boats this time than the last regatta.

"Oracle have the most radical boats, probably. They are narrow and probably light in displacement.

"Stars and Stripes have an interesting boat ... It is narrower than anyone else's - way narrower than Oracle's.

"Last time, Stars and Stripes were a bit like the 1995 generation. It was a good standard boat.

"This time, they have gone quite radical, which is great. That is what this event's about: innovation and pushing the limits.

"Prada have got an innovative mast. They have got two rigging elements down the outside of the mast.

"Instead of having one, they have devised a system to have two, which creates less drag.

"They are the only ones who have that system at the moment. That sort of thing moves the game up another level," Coutts says.

"It looks like Great Britain have gone for a tandem keel on their boat by the position of the mast and the way they lift the boat in and out of the water. So they have gone back to a keel possibly like what NZL20 had in 1995."

Coutts says some designers may have favoured a tandem keel because at high speed in strong winds yachts create a wave trough. If you separate the keels you also separate where the trough forms on the hull, which can reduce drag.

"Some of the teams have tried forward rudders, or canards where you have two rudders and a centre keel thing.

"There has been a lot of innovation this time. I love this part of the sport."

Coutts says the strong design teams would have looked at what Team New Zealand did last time and perhaps tested some of those ideas.

"But I think they will have gone well beyond that. When I look around I am sure they have as they are all coming up with such different ideas.

"Bruce Farr [Oracle designer] said in an interview that a good programme will look back at a spread of the old series but not make too many assumptions because you might miss some of the best features that never got a chance to be developed.

"Some of the challengers had very good ideas last time but had such a short time to develop them."

Finding a weakness in the Alinghi team is hard, although some question how 14 nationalities will function together.

"You walk around the hallways and you hear people talking in Spanish, French and German," Coutts says. "Then we have a design co-ordinator who is Australian - but he can't help that. Getting that mix of people working together is a great achievement.

"Everyone has different philosophies and it has taken a while to learn about our people and how to get the best out of them."

Syndicate boss Bertarelli will be on board as navigator when his business permits him to be in Auckland.

"Ernesto just wants to be part of the team. He is as passionate about sailing as I am about trying to learn golf."

For Alinghi the next few days will involve final tuning and finishing some modifications on one of their boats.

"There aren't a lot of nerves around yet but there will be on race day because it is going to be such a competitive event."

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