Yachting: Team NZ to get experimental

Grant Dalton

Team New Zealand will try out some different sailing combinations but are still looking for results in the next phase of America's Cup pre-regattas starting in Sweden in 13 days.

With the regattas now counting towards the 2007 challenger series, the Emirates-sponsored syndicate are the top ranked challenger after the opening two-race series in Valencia in June.

Cup holders Alinghi sit at the top of the leaderboard while Team Luna Rossa and BMW Oracle round off the top four.

With work having already begun on the syndicate's first new boat, Team New Zealand's attention in this year's remaining four regattas turns to crew development.

The afterguard will remain the same in Sweden - Dean Barker will drive, Terry Hutchinson call tactics, Kevin Hall navigate and Adam Beashel and Ray Davies will be strategists. Syndicate boss Grant Dalton said changes would be made in other positions.

"In my mind I am not settled on the rest of the boat at all and frankly we shouldn't be," he said.

"If someone gets injured we have to be able to switch guys and we have to give them match time so we can switch them. Although we are focused on results, we have also got to be focused on 07."

Sloppy crew work has never been an issue with the new-look Team New Zealand, although Dalton admits they have never really been under pressure, especially at a mark rounding.

"It is not so much about crew work. For me it is probably more about afterguard development and the trimming of the boat and learning to mode the boat."

Trimming was an area where Team New Zealand weren't so great in 2003 but Dalton said they were now "blessed with a significant number of good trimmers".

He is also happy with skipper Dean Barker's progress. Following on from the last event in Valencia, where he steered Team New Zealand to 10 wins in 11 races in the match racing regatta, Barker won the Breitling Med Cup regatta in Majorca.

After winning last year's cup championship by the aggregation of their results over three regattas, Dalton said this year would be a reality check.

However, with little separating the top four, it won't be until teams line up with their new boats next year that it will really be established where they stack up.

"There are four teams that are right there and they have similar building blocks. One or two of those teams will eventually break out by assembling the blocks they have better than the other teams," Dalton said.

The signature of Spanish brewery Estrella Damm in June secured the syndicate's last piece of major funding, leaving Dalton happy.

"I am not sure where I am at but I know where I have to go," he said.

"I would like a bit more money, I think the new boat is very cool, I think we can sail better, we need to sail better.

"We just have to keep on improving all the time."