Yachting: Barker has familiarity on his side

Dean Barker sails one of the yachts that will take part in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Photo / Greg Bowker

Coming to grips with the hardware has been the major challenge for the visiting international teams as they prepare for their opening round-robin matches of the Louis Vuitton Trophy.

The second stop on the Louis Vuitton world tour gets under way today, with eight international crews set to battle it out on identical Team New Zealand yachts over the next two weeks.

Racing will follow the format established in Auckland last year and adopted for competition in Nice last November.

Teams will take turns racing the two boats in four matches a day to complete a round-robin seeding series before a ladder elimination culminating in the finals on March 21.

Other than hosts Emirates Team NZ, the only syndicate returning from last year's Pacific Series, which formed the blueprint from which the new world series was established, is Great Britain's Team Origin.

With their early knowledge of the boats, these two teams enjoy a significant advantage over their competitors.

For the past two days, each of the eight teams has taken turns transferring aboard the race boats for two all-too-brief hours of familiarisation and training. During yesterday's final day of preparations, the teams had a poor day on the water in mixed conditions.

Paul Cayard, the American skipper and tactician for the Swedish Artemis team, said although their time in the boats has been limited, he is happy with the progress his team has made over the past two days.

Artemis are one of four new teams in Auckland for the event, joining the French sailing team Aleph, Russia's Synergy sailing team and French/German collaboration All4One as the new kids on the block.

Artemis finished seventh in their debut regatta in Nice, but Cayard expects with the benefit of time together, the Swedish team will be a stronger force in Auckland.

"We were realistic going into Nice," he said. "We didn't have an America's Cup boat to train on, we did zero training there.

"All of us on board have been in several America's Cups and they are great sailors but what makes a difference between New Zealand and a lot of other teams that have individuals on board is the cohesiveness of the team.

"It takes a lot of choreography and teamwork to sail one of these 17-man boats well. And that's where we have to grow and come together.

"We did some training in Dubai and here in Auckland on the Emirates Team New Zealand boats and we're looking to improve and be in the semifinals here in Auckland."

Whether or not Artemis enjoy success in Auckland, Team NZ boss Grant Dalton expects the Swedish team to become one of the big players.

Founded by oil-trader and international yachtsman Torbjorn Tornqvist, Artemis have had successes in the Transpac 52 and RC44 Classes, having won the TP52 MedCup Circuit and TP52 World Championships in 2007.

They now have their sights on making a splash in the America's Cup world, with the Louis Vuitton trophy series seen as a natural bridge to that.

"Artemis is a big-budget team - they're one of the new breed of teams," said Dalton. "They're another billionaire-funded team."

WHO'S COMPETING IN AUCKLAND

All4One - A unique collaboration between France and Germany, All4One is skippered by German triple Olympic champion and two-time America's Cup winner Jocjen Schumann, with Frenchman Sebastien Col at the helm.

Team Artemis - The billionaire-funded Team Artemis is skippered by American veteran Paul Cayard and features a number of Kiwis on board including former Team NZ grinder Craig Monk.

Aleph Sailing Team - A 100 per cent French project, with America's Cup veteran Bertrand Pace at the helm.

Azzurra - Azzurra represents the rebirth of an iconic Italian sailing team - one which first participated in the Louis Vuitton Cup more than 25 years ago. Made a big impact in their first regatta, beating Team New Zealand 2-0 in the final in Nice.

Emirates Team NZ - Skipper Dean Barker has retained almost all of the crew from the 2007 America's Cup campaign, giving ETNZ a distinct advantage in experience terms.

Mascalzone Latino - The newly anointed challenger of record for the 34th America's Cup. Kiwi Gavin Brady is skipper/helmsman, with American Morgan Larson as tactician.

Synergy Russian Sailing Team - Synergy made a major splash in their debut in Nice, making it through to the semifinals, where they pushed ETNZ to a deciding race.

Team Origin - British America's Cup team founded in 2007, led by Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie.