You've got to be agile, says McAsey

Ever wondered how a Northlander who is sailing in the America's Cup prepares for racing? Well, for Glenbervie's Chris McAsey at least, you head out for a good old fashioned duck shoot.

In between packing down Team New Zealand's racing beast and flying to San Francisco, ahead of tomorrow's Louis Vuitton Cup kicking off, the 40-year-old grinder spent some quality time with friends before embarking on the final hurdle.

Tomorrow McAsey's duck shooting escapades two months ago will be yet a distant memory as he boards Team New Zealand's catamaran to hopefully start the process of bringing the America's Cup home.

While controversy around the new style of yachts has surrounded the Louis Vuitton Cup preparations after a sailor died in a training accident, McAsey is a fan.

"The old boats you had your pedestal and you would never move from that pedestal," McAsey explained.

"You just sat there like a big bloody George Foreman, whereas these new boats you're crossing from side-to-side so you've got to be real agile.

"[Being agile is also needed because] you're doing 45 knots down-wind and it's hard enough to stand up let alone get around the boat. The other thing with these boats you're pretty much grinding non-stop, in the old ones you'd have maybe six big manoeuvres. Whereas these new boats you're constantly grinding because there are so many hydraulics. There's always something to grind."

McAsey noted while he didn't feel unsafe onboard, he had trimmed down compared to his last America's Cup campaign.

"Last [America's] Cup I was 122kg, and was about being as strong as you possibly could. I couldn't run, I was just too heavy whereas now the training is so different [and his weight being 115kg]," he said while explaining how each boat had a maximum crew weight of which he was not sure of the exact figure.

"The good thing with sailing is you do have quite a long life span in it, but the new boats, these catamarans, I won't last as long as you could in the past in the version five boats. There were guys still grinding in their 50s, but these ones you've got to be moving the whole time."

TVNZ will be running highlight packages or go online to cupinfo.com