Yachting: Team NZ want umpires

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Team New Zealand will have an extra body on board their black boats next week - making their intentions clear for the America's Cup.

The defenders want to use on-board umpires - a Kiwi innovation - during the big match in February. If the challenger accepts, it will be the first time in cup history that the system will be used.

The challengers, who were told of Team New Zealand's plan through a draft of the sailing instructions delivered late last week, voted against using on-board observers for the Louis Vuitton Cup series.

The winner of the challenger series will have their say whether they want another person on board their boat for the cup match. New Zealand invented the concept of on-board umpiring for the annual grand prix matchracing regatta in Auckland. Team New Zealand made it clear earlier this year that they wanted to use the system in the cup after trialling it during the Road to the America's Cup regatta.

The observer stands at the back of the boat, wearing a headset to speak with the umpire boat following the yachts.

The umpire on the racing yacht can advise the skipper on urgent rule issues, such as overlaps and rights of way. All decisions would still be made and signalled by the umpires on the water.

Team New Zealand rules adviser Russell Green said the on-board umpires' role was like a rugby referee "advising the players if it's a ruck or a maul."

"Our view is that it worked extremely well in the Road to the America's Cup, and it was endorsed by the skippers who were there," he said.

"We've seen a lot of incidents in the challenger series so far where the skippers haven't known what the umpires were thinking. Having an observer on board would have saved a lot of problems."

Team New Zealand will start using the system in their in-house racing next week. Three umpires from the challengers' pool will come over to the defenders' course each day to help out.

Without a defender series, the Kiwis have been holding practice races since they put both new boats, NZL57 and NZL60, in the water in November.

Most racing days they will try to squeeze in two races.

According to the team, the wins between the two boats are pretty even so far, as they make regular changes to the yachts' appendages.

Design coordinator and navigator Tom Schnackenberg said the boats had suffered a "reasonable amount" of damage during their days at sea.

"We've had some races where things got pretty hairy - where we got into difficulties with the gear," he said. "But we tend to keep racing pretty hard, to see if we can get out of it.

"We've broken gear - a lot of winches to start with.

"But we forget about it, in the sense that we work around it.

"It doesn't have a huge impact on our lives, like it does on the challengers if they break something and lose a race."