America's Cup: First races pointer to No1 crew

Emirates Team New Zealand versus Artemis Racing (SWE). Photo / Photosport

The first round-robin of the America's Cup has given us an insight into who will make up Team New Zealand's "No1" crew.

There are only two contestable positions in the six-strong crew aboard Emirates Team New Zealand with skipper and wing trimmer Glenn Ashby, helmsman Peter Burling and flight controller/cyclist Blair Tuke filling the core roles.

Andy Maloney, who narrowly missed out on the laser spot at last year's Olympics, is also a stalwart on board. Maloney's chief duty is providing pedal power to maintain the hydraulic pressure which fuels the control systems to the high-tech foiling catamarans, but he also assists Tuke in trimming the foils.

Maloney, who turns 27 this weekend, controls the flight of the boat during the tacks while Tuke is transitioning between hulls.

The remaining two spots on the pedals are shared among the team's rotating cast of "cyclors".

In their key match-ups over the first round-robin against Oracle Team USA, Team Japan and Artemis, Josh Junior, and former sprint cyclist Simon van Velthooven took up the front two spots.

Van Velthooven has been swapped out in races for Olympic rowing champion Joe Sullivan.

We are yet to see Guy Endean, who was part of the Team NZ crew during the America's Cup World Series, in this regatta. Since the world series events Endean has transformed himself from a hulking grinder to a streamlined cyclist.

At 87kg, Endean is 16kg lighter than some of the bigger cyclors, and will be a specialist light air power source.

The rules for the 35th America's Cup dictate that the maximum combined weight limit for the six-person crew is 525kg, but there is no minimum weight.