Yachting: Your boat's not fast enough

By SUZANNE MCFADDEN

Team New Zealand have opted for Russell Coutts' favourite boat, NZL60, to defend the America's Cup - but Prada aren't too worried.

In fact, the Italians' designer, Doug Peterson, reckons the Kiwis have a problem - he doesn't rate either of their black boats as fast enough.

Maybe Peterson should know. After all, he helped to design the Black Magics which won the Cup for New Zealand.

Or perhaps it's all pre-match hype - a trait of every America's Cup past.

Coutts' team will not step into a slug-out with Peterson. They hope their boat will do the talking against Luna Rossa, ITA45, in race one on Saturday.

American Peterson, who has been part of the last two Cup victories, has doubts about NZL60.

"Personally, I think they have a bit of a problem," he said. "I think they have powerful boats, but we know they don't tack very well. When we were watching them, they didn't seem much faster downwind than [1995 boat] NZL32.

"Sure, they have a funny bow, but do they plan to win the Cup with a funny bow? I don't think so."

Since NZL60 has never raced anyone but its elder sister, NZL57, Peterson's observations have been made from 200m away, watching the black boats from a rubber ducky, and from photographs.

"NZL60 looked better in light air than `57 from what we could see. But I think they will have problems in winds below 12 knots - maybe they'll have problems all the time," he said.

"Their sail development doesn't seem as far advanced as the challengers." They just seem to be on a different page to us."

Team New Zealand, perhaps wisely, offered no rebuttal.

Their design coordinator, Tom Schnackenberg, simply said: "We chose NZL60 because she is faster, and better suited to an opponent like Prada."

One of the TNZ designers, Mike Drummond, said the realisation that 60 was the best boat for the match came a couple of weeks ago.

"It was quite late in the testing. We tried different rigs and different keels, bulbs winglets and rudders on both boats," he said.

"But it's taken from their launching until now to work out the best combinations."

The chosen one was finished a couple of weeks after NZL57, and was put to sea on October 18, the first day of the challenger series.

Picking NZL60 was one of the worst-kept secrets in this Cup. Coutts had been at the helm of the boat most race days, which was a dead giveaway.

The boat will use the new "millennium rig" in the opening race on Saturday - a mast with one less spreader than usual, but with more controlled bend.

What it has underneath will be revealed this morning when Team New Zealand drop their skirts for the second time.

The gates at the base will be open between 8 am and 10 am, while Prada will reveal the keel on ITA45, the boat which won the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger final, at 9.30am.