No dull dances with sister

Team New Zealand's No 1 boat came home with a wound yesterday, after colliding with her sister, NZL57.

NZL60 suffered a cosmetic scratch in the bump with the other boat during an in-house race on the Hauraki Gulf - the other boat escaped unharmed.

It is not an unusual occurrence between the two boats in the feisty pre-start encounters between skipper Russell Coutts and his backup, Dean Barker.

In fact, former world match racing number one Peter Gilmour of Australia says Coutts and Barker are the two best match-racers in the regatta and much of Team NZ's early success can be attributed to their rivalry.

Rather than be disadvantaged by lack of competition against the challengers, they had honed their considerable skills against each other.

"What I think they've done is work on a lot of set moves in the pre-starts between their boats, Dean and Russell thrashing away out there, and come up with a very good, total, pre-start solution.

"So maybe dancing with your sister is not a bad thing after all."

The two teams have had several minor crashes, with Barker saying the worst aspect is telling the boatbuilders when they return to base.