Yachting: Victory Challenge designer has two loves in one port

By JULIE ASH

Argentine boat designer German Frers jun can keep an eye on his latest projects at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour.

As the designer of Victory Challenge's America's Cup boat Orn (Swe 63), Frers is in Auckland assisting with the testing of the boat, while just down the road, at the Stars and Stripes compound, his Volvo Ocean race boat, Grant Dalton's Amer Sports One, is gearing up for leg four of the round-the-world race.

"The America's Cup and the Volvo Ocean race are two different worlds, but just as competitive," Frers said.

Amer Sports One is the first round-the-world yacht the 32-year-old has designed.

"The crew are very happy with the boat and they feel it is competitive and they can win the race," Frers said.

"They are still learning a lot of the performance aspects of the boat.

"While the other teams are pretty much up to scratch, this team is still growing."

Amer Sports One and djuice, designed by Laurie Davidson, are the only yachts in the eight-boat fleet that are not creations of Bruce Farr.

"I was asked to design a boat in Italy and then Dalton came along and pushed for a Farr boat, so I said, 'Let's test them one on one'," Frers said.

"There wasn't a lot of time, but we managed to get some testing sessions and find out that our boat was quicker."

Frers said he was aware of the standing of New Zealanders Farr and Davidson.

"They are on top of their game and they are guys to beat. I am happy to be competing against them at this young age, it is good for me for the future."

Frers' first taste of the America's Cup came on Il Moro di Venezia in 1992, on which he worked with his father, world-renowned designer German Frers sen.

In the last cup, Frers jun helped to design Prada's Luna Rossa, winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

"We just move on to another project. You cannot take the information from the last campaign with you, but you never use it anyway because you can do better all the time.

"It is intense. You have to balance so many parameters from the top of the mast to the top of the keel, everything has to work as one package.

"Whatever little thing you change on one side, you have to compensate on some other part."

He said that over the years the boats had changed "big time."

"They will become lighter, stiffer and faster, but it depends a lot on where you race. These boats are made for the conditions in Auckland. If the cup goes away, the boats are going to change."

Frers believes this year's challenger series will be close.

"You have to count the big-budget campaigns. You can assume they are going to be strong. Prada are taking over from last time and Oracle are pretty much taking over from America One. "It is not easy to start from scratch. There is not time to be as competitive as the top teams."

And his thoughts on Team New Zealand?

"They are a very strong team, but what you achieve comes down to the boat, crew and sails - it all has to come together."

The next year could be a great one for Frers jun if Amer Sports One and Victory Challenge are both successful. But for now, his focus is on working out ways to make his boats go faster. "It's not hard, it's fun."

* Team New Zealand's Dean Barker takes on Alinghi's Russell Coutts in an all-star Finn class regatta just off Hobson Wharf tomorrow.

The regatta is the first of its kind in New Zealand for the Finn class.

As well as Barker and Coutts, the 17-strong fleet includes Olympic medallists Craig Monk, Brian Ledbetter and Jochen Schuemann, and reigning world Finn champion Sebastian Godefroid.

Racing starts at 10 am, with the prizegiving around 4 pm.

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