Sort out Team NZ structure quickly say yachting leaders

By HELEN TUNNAH

Auckland's yachting leaders have called for a swift decision on Team New Zealand's leadership so the syndicate can maintain the public's goodwill to mount another America's Cup challenge.

Yachting NZ's high performance manager, Peter Lester, said it was vital that the syndicate's new director of sailing be appointed quickly.

And a former manager of New Zealand's Olympic yachting team, Rod Slater, said there was support for Grant Dalton being offered the job.

"My experience of watching Grant Dalton putting campaigns together is he has got what it takes."

Lester said Team NZ needed to maintain the momentum and enthusiasm of both their sailors and the sporting public if they wanted to put a team together with a realistic chance of winning the cup in Europe in four years.

"Let's just get on with it. My understanding is Grant Dalton would be prepared to have a whack at it.

"He's a hard-hitter and you might have to manage that, but there's a huge groundswell of support for him."

Team NZ have been undertaking an internal review since their shock 0-5 loss of the cup to Alinghi last month, but may not say before October whether they will challenge again.

However, the syndicate's four trustees have announced a management shakeup that is expected to impact on the roles of skipper Dean Barker, syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg and chief executive Ross Blackman.

Two new positions, a director of sailing and a managing director, will be created.

The trustees are understood to have asked Dalton if he is interested in the sailing director's job, although they will not confirm this. Dalton has declined to comment.

Barker, who led the sailing team this campaign, said this week that he would not know whether he will stay with the team until he found out what his new job was.

Trustee Peter Menzies said yesterday that he wanted to see a director of sailing appointed quickly, but he could not put a timeframe on that.

"It is the top priority at the moment."

Both Menzies and trustee Ralph Norris will be closely involved in the appointment.

Most of the Team NZ crew contracts expired this week, meaning they can now join other America's Cup sailors and designers on the international job market.

Also expected to be job-hunting are several former Team NZ sailors, and designer Laurie Davidson, who quit the syndicate three years ago for the controversial Seattle team of billionaire Craig McCaw, which broke the event's rules by obtaining Team NZ and Prada design secrets.

The assets of McCaw's OneWorld Challenge have reportedly been sold to US billionaire Bill Koch for his new ForAmerica campaign.

The trustees

* Team New Zealand have four trustees who also form the board of directors.

* Auckland businessmen Ralph Norris and Peter Menzies, and Canadian sailor and businessman John Risley were handpicked by Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth before they quit the team in 2000.

* Saatchi & Saatchi's worldwide chief executive, Kevin Roberts, joined later. Paris-based, he missed the America's Cup through work.

* A new set of trustees, who may include some incumbents, will be appointed this year by Team New Zealand's management and sponsors, and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/americascup