Yachting: Team NZ skipper breezy about weather forecast

Dean Barker says the America's Cup format means it's important for Team New Zealand to keep up their winning form.

MALMO - Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker is confident his team's race boat NZL82 will cope should the breezy conditions forecast eventuate during the next America's Cup pre-regatta, starting in Malmo tomorrow.

The Emirates-sponsored syndicate has spent the past four days training against other teams off the coast of the Swedish city in preparation for the match-racing regatta.

With the pre-regattas now counting towards the 2007 Louis Vuitton series, Team New Zealand are the top-ranked challenger after the opening regattas in Valencia in June.

That's a position they will be hoping to hold on to during the match-racing regatta and the fleet-racing regatta to follow.

Racing in Malmo is on the Baltic Sea, whose flat state in the past few days has resembled a lake more than a sea.

Although the wind has been light to moderate, it is expected to strengthen over the weekend, testing not only the teams' sailing ability but also the reliability of their gear.

After its failure in the 2003 America's Cup, where it broke down twice in five races, NZL82 has undergone a considerable amount of work and Barker is confident it will be more than capable of tackling whatever conditions Malmo delivers.

"The changes we have made all feel good and the boat feels great.

"It is just surviving the windy days and keeping everything intact really, but obviously you have to keep winning races."

Cup-holder Alinghi's boat, SUI75, appeared to have a slight edge over the competition in Valencia, which clearly contributed to their regatta win.

"Certainly their boat is not slower than anyone else's out there. It proved itself in Auckland in a variety of conditions, even though they are sailing a different boat from the one they used in Auckland ... it seems to be strong right across the wind range," Barker said.

"But each of the different teams have their different strengths and weaknesses, particularly amongst the top four or five teams."

In the match-racing regatta in Valencia, Team New Zealand lost only one race (to Alinghi) in 11 races ... a record that will take some beating.

"The way this format is with the single round-robin and no semifinals or finals in the match-racing component this year means that any race that you don't win is potentially going to cost you the ability to win the regatta," Barker said.

"To win this you need to probably win every race or you could get away with maybe one loss ... so it is pretty important to keep winning."

Like Team New Zealand, several syndicates are using the regatta to trial different sailing combinations.

German Jochen Schuemann will helm Alinghi and at Oracle, chief executive and New Zealander Chris Dickson returns as skipper and helmsman with New Zealander Gavin Brady calling tactics.

Ian Burns will also start as navigator in place of Peter Isler who had prior commitments.

Sweden's Victory Challenge has also announced the recruitment of former Team New Zealand sailor Jeremy Scantlebury.

Scantlebury was with Team New Zealand when they won the cup in 1995 and defended it in 2000. He sailed with OneWorld in the last event.

* America's Cup measurers were forced to investigate the force of gravity when they started measuring the boats ahead of the regatta and found many were too heavy.

Chief measurer Ken McAlpine said several of the boats were up to 50kg overweight. "Basically, the force of gravity is slightly stronger here than it is in Valencia.

"We learned this when one of the boats came in heavy. The team couldn't understand it because they insisted they had changed nothing to the boat since Valencia," he said.

An internet search revealed a complex mathematical formula that suggested the boats should weigh about 50kg too much.

"Basically, the force of gravity changes with latitude, and the further north you go, the stronger it gets. It's a very subtle change, but when you're dealing with such a heavy object, even a small change makes a difference," he said.

The formula was applied which brought the boats back into line.

Team NZ draw

Flight one: v United Internet Germany (GER72)

Flight two: v China Team (CHN69)

Flight three: v Desafio Espanol (ESP67)

Flight four: v Mascalzone Latino (ITA77)

Flight five: v Luna Rossa (ITA74)

Flight six: v Team Shosholoza (RSA 83)

Flight seven: v K-Challenge (FRA60)

Flight eight: v +39 Challenge (ITA59)

Flight nine: v Victory Challenge (SWE77)

Flight 10: v BMW Oracle Racing (USA76)

Flight 11: v Alinghi (SUI75)