America's Cup: Practice time over in Bermuda

Emirates Team New Zealand remained in the sheds today in Bermuda. Photo / Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA via AP

Practice time is over in Bermuda.

With racing in the America's Cup Qualifiers set to get under way this Saturday, Emirates Team New Zealand have scheduled in a maintenance day to get their boat tuned for race mode. It appears most of the other syndicates have taken a similar approach with only the towering wingsail of Team France visible on the Great Sound today.

There will be one final flourish tomorrow, with each of the teams required to complete a lap of the race course as part of broadcast commitments. The "parade of sails" is to allow America's Cup TV to fine-tune their own systems ahead of race day, and the teams are not expected to stay out on the water for any further training.

The focus now is firmly on race day.

Team New Zealand chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge admits his team will be underdone heading into the opening round robin this weekend. The team's planned late arrival in Bermuda, followed by two unexpected setbacks last week - a rudder blowout and a punctured hull following a collision with the Brits - has limited the Kiwi crew's racing opportunities to just a handful of days.

Most of their match-ups have come against the two weaker syndicates - Team France and the spatial awareness challenged British team - as defender Oracle and their close allies Team Japan conspired to freeze Team NZ out.

Shoebridge said while Team NZ haven't had the opportunity to race Oracle and Dean Barker's Japanese syndicate, he believes they have a good handle on the strengths of their opposition.

"Everyone's got their own reasons why they don't race. We've had some good races with Artemis, we've had the occasional little line-up with Oracle, although it is pretty brief. But we're pretty comfortable with the design path we've taken and the areas that we've chosen and really the only thing missing now is a bit more time," he said.

"It's such a small racecourse, you can't help but get an impression of others. There's six boats on that little racecourse and no matter how hard you try you are always in a similar piece of water to someone else."

While the Team NZ crew will not be as battle-hardened as some of their rivals, Shoebridge said their boat will be ready. The team have been testing several pieces of new hardware, including rudders, daggerboards and wing tips on the foils right up until their final practice session yesterday, but Shoebridge said the team are comfortable with their race configuration.

"We're really in the fine-tuning area right now. Obviously we have to make decisions what appendages we will use on Friday, so that will be a weather-related call, but no major decisions."

After several days of fairly benign winds last week, the wind has been building in Bermuda this week with strong breeze forecast for Saturday's opening day. Winds of around 20-25 knots are predicted for Saturday, putting the opening festivities at risk of a blow-out.

Shoebridge said he is not aware of the exact contingency plans if racing is postponed, but he believes race management will be able to squeeze in two full days of racing into one if the need arises.

"They've done a lot of race practice out here over the last couple of months, working on getting races away quickly, length courses, all that sort of stuff. So they're in a pretty good spot and I think they will be able to do that no problem."