KEY POINTS:
Walking around the Team New Zealand base with James Dagg is like shadowing a moving target.
"Don't forget to mention you ride ponies," one of his teammates quips.
"Don't tell them anything, Randy," another chimes in, a few minutes later.
After 10 years with the syndicate, the likeable 36-year-old has clearly developed a thick skin to deal with teammates' gibes - compared to them, next year's challenger series will be a breeze.
Dagg, or "Daggy" as he is known, was hammering nails when Team New Zealand won the the Auld Mug in 1995.
A self-employed builder, he had a long list of keel boat regattas to his credit and was keen to get into the America's Cup.
His opportunity came in 1996 when he got a call from Team New Zealand's Russell Coutts.
"They were trying to get a few younger people involved in the team, they took Dean [Barker] and Hamish [Pepper], a few people like that on," Dagg says.
"I learned a lot in those years, the other three trimmers back then were Simon Daubney, Robbie Naismith and Grant Loretz. They taught me a lot - I was pretty new to big boat sailing at that stage, so it was a good experience for me."
Dagg was born in Auckland and grew up in the country's sailing capital, Murrays Bay.
His father was a keen sailor, and Dagg started cruising on the family boat before joining the Murrays Bay Sailing Club.
He played a bit of soccer as a youngster "but you don't have to put that in", he says trying to grab the words back.
"Let's keep that out of it."
For the record, he played in the Kristin School first XI.
But the lure of the sea meant his soccer career went no further.
Small in stature, he mainly sailed Optimists. He did one season in the P-Class, then was a foundation graduate of the first Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron youth scheme under the guidance of Harold Bennett.
Team New Zealand teammate Chris Ward was in the same intake.
"It was basically a transition from dinghy sailing to keel boat racing. It was good for me."
After graduating from the scheme he sailed in a variety of regattas overseas. He competed in the Mumm 36 circuit with Jim Farmer on Georgia Express and won the Kenwood Cup, the Two Ton Worlds and Admirals Cup on Neville Crichton's Shockwave.
His keel boat sailing impressed Coutts who, on signing Dagg, described him as one of the brightest prospects in the 2000 defence campaign.
"In those days it was pretty hard work," Dagg says.
"It was a very small sailing team. Sometimes we went out with only nine people on the boats. Early on there wasn't the money to employ a big team ... slowly the team built up but it was a long campaign - four years of sailing.
"We had good in-house racing and developed two good teams as we did in 2003."
Following the defections after the 2000 regatta, Dagg was cast into a leading role for the second defence, in 2003.
"I always wanted to stay. It was a bit of a weird feeling seeing so much of the team disperse but we built it up and did what we could, really."
Trimming was an area where Team New Zealand could have done better in the last cup but Dagg reckons the syndicate are on top of it this time round. The trimmers are responsible for adjusting the sails to the perfect angle and shape for the breeze.
"The whole thing has moved along a lot more. I guess technically we have a lot bigger sail-making team and a lot bigger team in the trimming side of things. We do a lot more analysing of the sails than we did last time.
"I'm really excited about getting into it [the challenger series]. We have two good boats and two good teams. All the acts [pre-regattas] have been really good - that has probably been the biggest difference, being able to line up against the other boats and see your opposition before you get into it."
Away from Team New Zealand, in what little spare time he has, Dagg likes to head to the mountains for a bit of skiing or out cruising on his parents' boat.
He married Gillian Meacham last year and they have a 1-year-old daughter, Georgia. His wife, sister of Dagg's Team New Zealand crewmate Richard Meacham - has represented New Zealand in equestrian.
The couple live in a house which Dagg built, on a 4ha property in Coatesville where they keep four or five horses - which must explain the pony gibe. As for the bit about Randy - who knows.
JAMES DAGG
Born: Auckland November 8, 1970
Status: Married to Gillian with a daughter, Georgia
Position: trimmer
Career -
2007: Emirates Team New Zealand
2000: Team New Zealand - America's Cup defence
Other: Competed on the Mumm 36 circuit with Jim Farmer on Georgia Express and won the Kenwood Cup, the Two Ton Worlds and Admirals Cup on Neville Crichton's Shockwave.
