Yachting: Kiwi accents commonplace in American base

By Suzanne McFadden

Down at the America True base on Auckland's waterfront, you will hear more Kiwi twangs than American drawls.

The guy who runs the day-to-day show here, David Barnes, is one of New Zealand's most experienced cuppers. The chief boatbuilder, Peter Sowman, and the crewman overseeing the completion of the new boat in Auckland, Roo Stevenson, are Kiwis.

Five of the sailing crew, including the man at the helm, John Cutler, have New Zealand passports.

The boat, which arrived in town last week, will be launched in New Zealand.

"We have to be careful not to take over," Barnes laughs.

This is Barnes' fifth America's Cup. He started with KZ7 in 1987, helming her to victory at the world 12m championships in Sardinia later that year.

He was skipper of KZ1 in 1988, tactician for NZL20 in 1992, and coached OneAustralia at the last cup. He says he likes moving around.

This time he is running the daily operations for the syndicate, and will helm the training boat - Chris Dickson's old NZL39 - against the new boat, called America True, in the run-up to the challenger series.

The Trues are the first challengers to set up base for good in Auckland. The crew will arrive in dribs and drabs over the next month, and they should be out sailing by the end of July.

The new boat is still strictly under cover, hidden inside the monster shed on the village base, and supposedly still dressed in her bubble-wrap outfit from the trip across the Pacific.

Sowman, who left his family here for seven months while he built the boat in California, is putting the finishing touches on her now.

When she arrived in Auckland, some of her pieces were missing - including the huge keel fin. Everything has now been found.

America True should be ready for her launch, and a christening party, on the Waitemata Harbour in around a fortnight.

The Trues have American neighbours - Dennis Conner on the cityside and Hawaii's Aloha Racing on the harbour side. Their base is a maze of a dozen white portable containers, the towering boatshed and a new wooden office modelled on Barnes' Omaha beach bach.

If you stroll along the new village walkway, you can peer straight into the America True base - and maybe catch a glimpse of something you shouldn't. But Barnes says there is nothing that can stop it.

"There really shouldn't be any secrecy in this America's Cup - skirts on the boats should be banned," he said. "And the boats should have little motors so you don't have to tow them out to the racecourse. It would save everyone hundreds of thousands of dollars."