KEY POINTS:
They are fierce rivals on the water, but Team New Zealand are quietly impressed with Alinghi's progress towards laying out the ground rules for the 2009 America's Cup.
Team New Zealand yesterday became the fourth confirmed challenger for the cup in Valencia and its director of sailing and operations, Kevin Shoebridge, is happy with the speed pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.
"And that allows us to get on with the job in hand," he said yesterday. "Consider that four years ago things happened a lot slower. The cup finished in March and we didn't know until the end of the year what the venue and class rule was."
Shoebridge reckoned Team New Zealand to be among the best-placed syndicates to cope with class changes to be announced on October 31. The challengers will get a say in what's planned, Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth said yesterday.
"Teams will have a chance to comment on how and what we do. We're looking for some ideas on how the different teams like to see the boats built," he said.
Shoebridge pointed out that Auckland's strong marine industry should work in Team New Zealand's favour.
One rule in the protocol put out three weeks ago by Alinghi cut out two-boat testing. Syndicates can build two boats, but can't sail them against each other. That appears to make life difficult for new syndicates, but Shoebridge said there were two ways of looking at it.
"Some of the new teams could look at it as an advantage. All the developments they've missed out on in the past don't mean anything any more.
"But the disadvantage is they've got to scurry round and put together a high-calibre design team in a short period of time and when this rule comes out on October 31 you've got to hit the ground running."
Shoebridge acknowledged the financial benefits, although the downside was the difficulty of making accurate assessments of progress on the water.
"These big boats probably require 20 or 21 people on them. Having two sailing each day means 45 guys, which is a big burn in the salary pile."
There were 11 challengers in Valencia this year but Shoebridge doubts there will be that many in 2009 given the time constraints.
Oracle have launched court action against Alinghi over the unfair weighting in the defenders' favour in the cup protocol. Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli responded yesterday, giving Oracle syndicate boss Larry Ellison both barrels.
"Unfortunately having failed to win on the water and putting in the worst-ever performance by an American team, it seems Larry Ellison has decided to win the battle in court," he said.
Although Alinghi are viewed as the bad guys with the big wallets in America's Cup pontifications, Shoebridge hinted that their relations with the defenders are pretty good.
"We sailed a lot with them in the early days, in 2004-05 and we were frowned on by some of the challengers," he said. "It suited both of us and we were proved correct on that [winning the round robin and Louis Vuitton Cup]. When we went to the America's Cup obviously things get strained, but you'd expect that. Everyone has a healthy respect for each other."
Cup-date
* Team New Zealand confirms its entry in the 2009 America's Cup, joining South Africa's Shosholoza syndicate, British entry Team Origin and Spaniards Desafio Espanol, with defenders Alinghi.
* On October 31, the class rule will be announced, with a maximum length of 27.5m, up from 24m this year, after Alinghi meet challengers in September to hear their views on the specifics of the class.
* The buildup will include two pre-regattas next year, starting in Valencia in July.
* Oracle's court action against the unfairness of the protocol drawn up by Alinghi is slammed by Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli.
