Yachting: Mixed start for Team NZ

Team NZ are in eighth place after day one of the MedCup in Portugal. Photo / Chris Cameron, ETNZ

Team New Zealand had mixed fortunes on the opening day of the MedCup yachting season in Europe as British boat Cristabella, skippered by New Zealander John Cutler, emerged as the early leader.

Team NZ made a modest start to the five-day Portugal Trophy regatta, the first of five events on the circuit, with a sixth and a last placing.

They came back to win the afternoon's final race off Cascais to sit eighth overall among the 11-strong fleet of TP52s.

"We were up and down, when we didn't really need to be," skipper Dean Barker said.

"But we take heart from the fact that, even though we sailed like that, we're only five points off the leader. The boat is going well, the guys are sailing it well and we have good speed."

Cristabella deflected any suggestions about bad luck in winning yesterday's practice race with a second, an eighth and a third in moderate conditions that organisers described as neither easy nor consistent.

Cutler and his crew ended day one a point ahead of both American entry Quantum Racing and Argentine yacht Matador.

Team NZ, who were consistently good off the start line last year in winning the MedCup series at their first attempt, had what Barker described as a "pretty ordinary start" in race one.

"In the second race we had a reasonable start and we were in quite a strong position on the first beat," he said.

"But it was just one of those races where we couldn't get anything right and we were completely out of phase. We sailed ourselves right back through the fleet, which was a bit frustrating."

Team NZ stepped up their performance in race three, when they powered off the start line, got into a good lane and led all the way to the end.

Barker said Team NZ were punished for mistakes in the first two races, pointing to consistency as the key to success given the standard of the fleet and the difficulty of the race course.

"In some ways it feels like we're shaking the dust and the cobwebs out a little bit," he said.

"I think everyone obviously feels better finishing the last race in good fashion, so tomorrow we just need to come out firing and get some good results on the board."

Meanwhile, Cutler said Cristabella's crew were happy to win the practice race despite the superstition surrounding the feat, after the team's disappointments of last season.

"Last year, we could scarcely get out of our own way," he said, "so anything at all seemed worth taking."

- NZPA