Yachting: Team NZ take up their tools

By SUZANNE MCFADDEN

The heart of Team New Zealand has been ripped out again.

But this time it is the sailors who are tearing at the very foundations of the America's Cup defence, not foreign billionaires on the prowl to poach crew.

And it is all for a good cause.

Both sailors and shore crew have donned builders' aprons and picked up tools to rebuild the Team New Zealand base at the centre of the America's Cup village.

Trying to save a dollar, Team New Zealand are doing all the construction work themselves.

But it helps to have trained carpenters among the crew like bowmen Joey Allen and Jared Henderson, and trimmer James Dagg.

To escape the din of buzzsaws and hammers, the rest of the team have headed overseas.

Defence head Tom Schnackenberg and some of the design team have completed the first tank-testing session in England, trying out the first set of hull models.

Schnackenberg and skipper Dean Barker then took the America's Cup to Italy, where the silver ewer was the centre of attention at the Genoa Boat Show.

This weekend Barker heads to Bermuda to try to become the overall champion of the inaugural Swedish Match international matchracing series.

Barker, who has already been crowned world matchrace champion this year, needs to finish in the top two in the Bermuda Gold Cup starting next week to collect a $US150,000 bonus.

Team New Zealand's new back-up helmsman, Frenchman Bertrand Pace, leads the series by 11 points.

But he has chosen not to sail in this regatta because he does not like the boats.

Because of his short stature, he finds it difficult to see where he is going.

Cameron Appleton, Team NZs other helmsman, will also contest the regatta.

It will be the first time that Barker has had a showdown with his old boss, former Team NZ skipper Russell Coutts.

It is the biggest gathering of stars since the last America's Cup.

Among the other skippers are Dennis Conner, Chris Dickson, John Cutler, Ed Baird and young Australian James Spithill.

Straight after the regatta, the defenders crew will all meet back in Auckland, with Pace getting his first taste of being a Kiwi.

The 2000 black boats will begin serious testing on the Hauraki Gulf after Christmas.

Herald Online feature: America's Cup