Yachting: Catch-up time starts for the also-rans now

By Chris Dickson

The champagne corks had barely hit the ground before the first challenge for the next America's Cup was lodged.

The date for the final has been set for 2003, which is good news for the challengers, who now have a chance of putting sponsorship money together quickly in order to keep their teams together and start the big job of catch-up.

The challengers have a long way to go to get even close to Team New Zealand, let alone to think about winning the Cup.

I doubt there is a single piece of the puzzle where the challengers hold the upper hand.

And there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle!

The only way any team might be a threat would be by having talented and experienced people working full-time first to catch up to where they think Team New Zealand are now, and then to move their skills and technology forward to where Team New Zealand are likely to be in three years.

That is a big ask and will require dollars. A lot of dollars! Around 50 million of them probably.

And there are only a few who are likely to reach that level.

And Team New Zealand?

They will move ahead and most likely at a quicker pace than the competition.

They hold a big advantage already and seem to have the resources to hold key members of the team in place.

They have already refined the basics, and with time and money, can be expected to continue on their innovative way.

We have already seen a few new faces on Black Magic but the core crew who won in 1995 held on to their positions in 2000 and can be expected to do the same in 2003.

And why not ? They have done the hard work, they have won the Cup, they have kept it, and although a few may elect to step aside, the majority can be expected to stay.

The Team New Zealand crew have worked hard to get to where they are.

Don't expect too many changes.

With a score line of 5-0, the Team New Zealand defence strategy was obviously sound.

They did a great job of creating an environment for themselves where they have clearly excelled.

With Russell Coutts replacing Sir Peter Blake at the head of the organisation, there is every reason to expect more of the same - for New Zealand, and especially Auckland.

Perhaps it will be a repeat in three years.

I say perhaps, because we should not simply assume that the 2003 Cup will be held in Auckland.

Maybe Tauranga would like to make a bid? Or Wellington perhaps? The Bay of Islands maybe? Of course Auckland is the obvious choice but whose choice is it?

Equally, the Louis Vuitton Cup is set up by the challengers to find the one team who will race off against Team New Zealand.

Commonsense says you should hold the elimination regatta in the same place as the Cup.

Reality is, the challengers can go wherever they wish and that need not be New Zealand at all!

I am not suggesting they will go anywhere else, just pointing out the rules of the game.

Let's assume all the challengers turn up in 2002 with new boats and lots of money.

Just maybe, they might manage to catch up to Team New Zealand - in which case we could see a close boat race.

But if they don't quite get everything exactly right?

Well, 5-0 again to Team New Zealand wouldn't be a silly bet.