Mike Hosking talks to Olympic and Team NZ sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke
Team New Zealand member Blair Tuke says they've had a chance to 'throw around' the new America's Cup boat.
The America's Cup holders shared impressive new footage of their AC75 training on the Hauraki Gulf last week and Tuke said it's doing well.
"The big boat is doing well. We got it through its initial commissioning phase and throw it around a bit more over the last couple of weeks. Which has been cool. It's all on track," he told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning.
Tuke along with Olympic and America's Cup teammate Peter Burling have launched a new charity called Ocean Live to support and invest in promising marine science, innovation, technology and marine conservation projects.
"I think we've always been very passionate about the environment but never really seen how we fit into the whole scheme of things. After sailing around the world in the Ocean Race, I've become a lot more passionate about finding a way we can help. We definitely see the ocean as our playground, a real passion, so to launch a charity today with the goal of New Zealand being world leaders in ocean health is something we're pretty proud of," Burling told Hosking.
Tuke added the big vision is for New Zealand to lead the way in ocean health by accelerating projects, science, community action and innovations.
"Our mindsets aren't shifting as quickly as the ocean is changing. It's something we felt like we have to do this," Burling said.
"There's a lot of issues with the ocean but the four major ones we're concentrating on are sedimentation, both urban and rural, pollution, climate change and also fishing. We need to improve our fishing practices. There's a lot of issues the ocean faces and it's about understanding the whole ecosystem and what's actually happening out there and really trying to make a positive change," Burling added.
Burling and Tuke have a busy time ahead with the 49er World Championships taking place next month in Okahu Bay while they continue to spend time on Te Aihe - Team New Zealand's first boat for the America's Cup defence.
"No doubt we're very busy and we feel we don't have a choice," Tuke said. "As we've got more into it we've learned more. The science and the facts are there that we need to act now if we want to make change so we're making time to do this. But at the same time we're very much aware that the best thing for Live Ocean and for the ocean in general is to keep winning sailing races or at least giving it our best shot."
Burling added: "It's definitely been a pretty busy time over the last couple of months with the Cup boat out on the water and building up to the world champs. It's been a really fun time as well."
Team New Zealand experienced some teething troubles with its new high-tech foiling monohull last week, Sail-World NZ shared images of a high-speed nose dive in the America's Cup boat during training.
The incident reportedly happened in north-easterly winds of about 18 knots and the boat was sailing at impressive speeds when it nosedived, coming to a complete stop.
After a few minutes, the AC75 resumed sailing very quickly and with no serious damage obvious.
