America's Cup: Team New Zealand out to evolve and get faster before Oracle clash

Emirates Team New Zealand were back on the water today in Bermuda. Photo / Gilles Martin-Raget

Just as the Team New Zealand boat is undergoing some fine tuning ahead of this weekend's opening races in the America's Cup, the crew are also focusing on sharpening up their act.

After a day off the water yesterday while the New Zealand boat underwent further upgrades, Team NZ were back out on the Great Sound for two practice sessions today.

The team docked out mid-morning to test out their newly-repaired second wingsail, taking it through a few systems checks before returning to their base to swap out some equipment and head back out on the water for a more lengthy training run.

Emirates Team New Zealand cyclor Josh Junior told the Herald the training isn't just focused on testing out new equipment - there's also gains to be made in their crew-work and tactics.

"We're just looking to evolve where we're at and trying to make the boat faster and learn to sail it better. We've got things we want to work on and keep improving. We're just chipping away and slowly but surely getting better and better," said Junior.

The 2016 Olympian said the crew had just half a day off after wrapping up the Louis Vuitton challenger final against Artemis Racing in Tuesday, before they were back at the base getting "stuck back into it".

The team held a series of meetings yesterday to identify the areas of improvement. Junior said while there are some tired people in the camp - particularly among the shore crew - they are all grateful to still be in Bermuda with a shot at wresting the Auld Mug away from Oracle Team USA.

"Everyone has had a bit of a refresher, but we're well and truly back into work now and trying to make the boat faster and get ready for the America's Cup itself," said Junior.

"I think everyone is really excited and really enjoying the experience and looking forward to getting into it."

Junior, one of regulars aboard Team NZ, said the team are in for some long training days in the lead-up to this weekend's opening races in the 35th Cup match, but the cyclors are being kept fresh through a well-managed rotation programme.

"I've had the morning off, so I have to get my lycra back on and my life jacket and get ready to hurt a little bit," he said cheerfully.

"All these America's Cup boats are super thirsty. They need a lot of hydraulic pressure and on our boat we have cyclists and you can't just do it with one or two - you need a whole team. We have five or six really strong guys we rotate through and it's good to give some guys a rest and switch in and out."

He estimates by the time the team leaves Bermuda, the cyclors would have pedaled the equivalent of thousands of kilometres.

"Before we came here we did a few rides to the Coromandel for training, and we used to be really tired after that. When we've had a big day on the water, we kind of come off thinking 'that felt like riding to the Coromandel', so we sort of compare it to that," he said.

"We would have done a lot of kilometres, that's for sure."

Dana Johannsen travelled to Bermuda thanks to Emirates, which flies A380s daily from New Zealand to Dubai and beyond