Yachting: Dalton backing Kiwi culture

Grant Dalton says he won't be scared of making changes if that is necessary for the campaign's success. Picture / Richard Robinson

Emirates Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton believes the strong Kiwi culture within his team will be an advantage as they prepare for the America's Cup.

Dalton and his team are preparing for the next lot of cup pre-regattas which start in Sweden on August 25.

With the points now counting towards the 2007 challenger series, they are the top-ranked challenger after the year's first two acts in Valencia in June.

However, with just under two years to go until the showpiece event, one of the great challenges in the ego-driven sport seems to be creating a happy and harmonious team.

Already three-times cup winner Russell Coutts has been axed from Alinghi and more recently there has been a split between BMW Oracle Racing and American tactician John Kostecki.

So after numerous round-the-world campaigns, does Dalton view managing a cup team any different?

"I think all teams are bubbling under the surface and have issues because it is the America's Cup. It just seems to be the way it is.

"I think all teams in all sports have issues. I guess it is a matter of which teams are able to harness it and control it and make it not disrupt the team.

"I would hope that the people we have employed today will still be the same people we have at the end, but I sure as hell wouldn't be scared of making a change if it was necessary."

That's a comment he proved recently with his release of veteran designer Tom Schnackenberg.

With the nationality rule now lapsed, teams can employ people from various countries more easily, and Dalton said he had not found integrating people difficult.

"The core philosophy here couldn't be more Kiwi if it tried. It is more a case of those nationalities blending in with the Kiwis and they are doing it well.

"More and more we are returning to our original culture of Team New Zealand that [Sir Peter] Blake set up."

An example of that is the syndicate's new base which is being built in New Zealand and shipped to Valencia. Eighty-five tonnes of fabricated steel leaves in September.

Although they have two major international sponsors in Emirates and Spanish brewery Estrella Damm, they have a huge number of local suppliers providing materials and time for free.

"We could never afford to build a base as flash as Oracle's or Alinghi's if we had to write out a cheque, but we can because lots of stuff was given to us.

"That is the culture that is re-emerging in this place and that is the culture of the past. If I do one thing in the next two years it is to make sure that culture is very strong."

That culture was difficult to depict in the likes of Oracle, who are predominantly Kiwi and to some extent Alinghi.

"Alinghi have a culture to a point because [boss Ernesto] Berterelli is such a fantastic leader, but I can't see a natural heart in Oracle.

"I am not trying to fool the public that we are selected representatives for New Zealand but we have to play to our strengths to beat these guys and that is a strength.

"Not in terms of trying to convince the New Zealand public we are Kiwi, but within this team it is a very strong motivator."

Alinghi's success in the last regattas proved they were still formidable without Coutts, Dalton thinks Oracle could be the same despite Kostecki being their prized signing.

"They are just a big machine and one guy don't make the whole team. If [Oracle chief executive Chris] Dickson has shown one thing over the years he is a true survivor and has the ability to pull it all together. I am under no illusions ... they could well whip us in Sweden."

* Television New Zealand has secured the New Zealand rights to broadcast the next America's Cup in Valencia in 2007.