KEY POINTS:
When Chris Dickson's America's Cup syndicate rip one of their giant white spinnakers out on the water, Phil Jameson knows he's in trouble.
Not with Dickson but with his wife, Kylie, a sailmaker for BMW Oracle Racing, the American syndicate the husband-and-wife duo work for.
For Kylie, a
torn spinnaker can lead to a long night behind the sewing machine. Not exactly ideal when your husband works days.
"During the day Phil is out sailing and I am in the loft all day or all night," said Kylie, who sailed in the Yngling in the last Olympics.
"We work in two very separate departments so you might have breakfast together if you are lucky. The only advantage is that our holidays are at the same time."
Phil, a mid bowman, started sailing in Wellington's Evans Bay. The first time he went sailing was "an absolute disaster, I didn't know what I was doing - still don't," he jokes.
He then hounded Sir Peter Blake for a job and ended up working for Team NZ as a chase boat driver in 1995 and 2000. After the 2000 defence he worked on Larry Ellison's maxi Sayonara, which is where the Oracle syndicate was born.
Both he and Kylie, who started sailmaking in 1996, are in their second campaign with the American syndicate.
"They certainly haven't got any easier," said Phil, reflecting on the last three cups.
"The hardware is certainly getting lighter every time. We have been really tough this time on getting rid of weight out of the boat, out of the rig ... everything is just marginal. But we haven't had any real catastrophic failures, we have had the odd problem but no real show-stoppers.
"We have got a bloody good engineering team over there. The new boat [USA98] is beautiful, just an absolute masterpiece. It is a shame that not everyone gets to see below deck and how much work has gone into it. We are extremely fortunate to have the funding to do that sort of thing.
"Last time was such a quick turn around [between cups] ... this time we have had a lot of time to think about it, cut ideas and try new things.
"Last time it was make a new boat, hope it doesn't break, get it around the track ... we never really had a chance to experiment. These boats are so refined now but we'll be calling these ones hunks of junk in two years' time."
PHIL JAMESON
Born: Wellington
Position: mid bowman
2003-2007: BMW Oracle Racing - mid bowman
1995-2000: Team New Zealand - chase boat driver
KYLIE JAMESON
Born: Napier
Position: sailmaker
2003- 2007: BMW Oracle Racing
2004: Athens Olympics, 7th in the Yngling class.