Grant Dalton. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Syndicate boss Grant Dalton has rejected suggestions Team New Zealand will be out for revenge when they challenge for yachting's America's Cup.
In a best-of-nine match against holders Alinghi beginning off Valencia on June 24 (NZT), Team NZ will come up against opponents who took the Auld Mug
off them.
Dalton wasn't part of the last Cup regatta in Auckland four years ago, when Alinghi scored a 5-0 whitewash.
He said some media were reporting that Team NZ saw the upcoming contest as a grudge match and were out for revenge for 2003.
"We don't see it that way at all," he wrote in the syndicate's latest newsletter, released today.
"We are here to have a shot at winning the America's Cup. To do that, we have to have a good boat, faultless crew work and great support on shore.
"Revenge doesn't come into it. We want to win, yes. Grudge match, no."
Dalton said some changes had been made to the team's two boats since the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' final win over Italy's Luna Rossa.
NZL92, which was used exclusively during the LV Cup, and NZL84 had been set up in configurations that were tried in Auckland.
"Now we're testing them in Valencian conditions -- lighter winds and a seaway created by spectator boats," Dalton said.
"Whether or not NZL92 races as it is currently set up will be decided when we analyse the results of this week's testing."
Alinghi had been the benchmark against which all the challengers measured themselves, and they remained the benchmark going into the cup match, he said.
"We have improved and so has Alinghi.
"There are a lot of clever people on the Alinghi team and they haven't been sitting on their hands during the past year or two. So we expect some tough racing."
Dalton described the New Zealand support his team were getting as "humbling and heart-warming".
"We live and work in a bit of a bubble in Valencia, but we are well aware of all the support at home," he said.
"We hear many reports about people getting up in the middle of the night to watch the racing. It's amazing."
- NZPA
