LONDON - Team New Zealand finished third in the America's Cup Jubilee yachting regatta off Cowes, yesterday beating GBR41 convincingly in the petit-final.
British helmsman Andy Beadsworth was strong in the pre-start but could not match the speed of Dean Barker and NZL32 in the America's Cup Class match-race.
Barker sailed the
1995 cup winner against faster, newer-generation boats, although GBR41 was of similar vintage.
Team NZ boss Tom Schnackenberg said the regatta was "fun".
"We've had a great deal of fun and enjoyed some really good racing.
"On the other hand, the conditions here are very different to those in Auckland so any lessons learned will only be very general. But it's been a fantastic week."
Prada, the beaten America's Cup challenger last year, won the final match-race by six seconds from GBR Challenge, who had earlier eliminated Team NZ.
GBR Challenge sailing manager Ian Walker cautioned against reading too much into the results on the Solent.
"Doing well in the Jubilee regatta here is very different from doing well in the America's Cup," Walker said. "But this has been a very good week for the British Challenge and a very good week for the America's Cup. We're happy."
Britain are Auckland-bound, having mounted their first cup challenge in 14 years.
Team NZ brought the cup to Cowes for the 150th jubilee of the first America's Cup race.
Meanwhile, a last-race dash by Cameron Appleton and his Team New Zealand crew secured second place in the 12m world championship off the Isle of Wight yesterday.
With the championship already won by compatriot Russell Coutts, now representing Switzerland, Appleton steered Kiwi Magic to victory in the last race to snatch second place from Australia II.
At 23, Appleton was the youngest skipper in the regatta and - sailing the national icon Kiwi Magic, with which New Zealand made their first America's Cup challenge in 1987 - he had the hopes of a nation on his shoulders.
"The boat was really going today," said the young skipper.
"It's taken us a while to work out how to sail her, but everything was right for us today."
Appleton was only 8 when Kiwi Magic sailed for New Zealand in the America's Cup, off Fremantle in Australia.
- AGENCIES
