Strengthened Team NZ yacht to be put through its paces

By JULIE ASH

Team New Zealand's NZL82 will be back on the Hauraki Gulf next month to prepare for the first of the America's Cup regattas in September.

The yacht, which broke down twice in five races during the last America's Cup, has been undergoing strengthening work for the past three months after an independent study into why it and its sister yacht, NZL81, failed.

The findings of the study have not been made public but Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton said they had identified precisely what the structural issues were.

Once NZL82 has been thoroughly tested, it will be shipped to Europe for the first of the America's Cup class regattas.

Work will then begin on NZL81 and the former Illbruck boat GER68, which arrives in Auckland in July.

The first of the cup regattas is in Marseille from September 5 to 11 and will involve fleet and match racing.

The second and third regattas will be held in Valencia, the host of the 2007 America's Cup.

The first regatta, from October 5 to 12, will be match racing and the second, from October 14 to 17, will be fleet racing.

All the regattas will be used to help seed the challengers for the 2007 challenger series but it is not yet known how much weighting this year's regattas will have.

There will also be a series of regattas next year and in 2006. The locations and dates have yet to be announced.

Although Team New Zealand are still trying to raise the $150 million needed to compete in the 2007 Cup, they have an extensive programme mapped out for the next year which will be paid for by private benefactors and past sponsors such as Toyota, Telecom, ASB, Xerox and Air New Zealand.

Immediately after the regatta in Valencia, they plan to ship NZL82 back to Auckland.

Either it or NZL81 will be then modified to comply with the new version of the America's Cup class rule, which will apply for the regattas in 2005 and beyond.

The "hula" will be removed and changes made to the draught and displacement.

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/americascup