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Top
rower Rob Waddell joins TNZ
(02/13/01)
(source :
NZ
Herald)
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Top rower Rob Waddell, Olympic gold medallist
in Sydney in the single scull, joins Team New Zealand to
get the grinder's job. In their last America's Cup campaign,
Team NZ took on top multisport athlete Jonathan Macbeth.
Skipper Dean Barker had 40 applicants for the grinder's
job. The list was culled to 5 - none with sailing experience.
Rob Waddell had to beat another rower, a national judoka,
a body-builder and a national strongman titleholder.
At 115kg, Waddell is the heaviest sailor at Team. And at
2m tall, he has to duck to get through doorways at their
base.
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Team
New Zealand Sponsorship (02/02/01)
(source : NZ
Herald)
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The Five members of the so-called family
of five America's Cup sponsors are back on board for Team
New Zealand's defence of the trophy in 2003. Telecom, Lion
Nathan (Steinlager), TV One, Lotto and Toyota, which have
once more signed up to align themselves with the glamour
that goes with the world-famous yachting series.
Sponsorship costs are believed to be as high as $85 million
to fund Team NZ's 2003 campaign - up about 80 per cent.
.
It is understood that Team NZ asked each family member for
around $7 million. But a source confirmed that Five would
not be paying much more than they had last time - a figure
pegged at around $5 million - leaving a question mark as
to who might be picking up the sponsorship slack.
T eam NZ general manager Ross Blackman confirmed that it
was in talks with other corporates, which will make up the
so-called "second family of five" - sponsors which will
support events surrounding the racing. Air NZ and Fuji Xerox
are among the firms being wooed.
Contracts have not been drawn up between the sponsoring
parties yet, but the "family" will be able to milk their
involvement with the challenge immediately.
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Four members of the so-called family of
five America's Cup sponsors are back on board for Team New
Zealand's defence of the trophy in 2003. Lion Nathan, Lotto,
Telecom and Toyota are likely to announce their commitment
within the next week.
However, as foreshadowed last year, Television New Zealand's
involvement with the family of five is now at an end. TVNZ
- which provided extensive coverage of the 1999 cup defence
but contributed no cash &endash; is relinquishing its place
enabling Team New Zealand to replace it with a much-needed
cash sponsor. Reliable estimates put the revised cost of
Team New Zealand's 2003 campaign at between $80 million
and 85 million. Two or three major companies are understood
to be vying for the vacant spot. TVNZ will continue to provide
local coverage of the America's Cup, while the ESPN network
will broadcast the event internationally.
Sources told The Independent the rights-based ESPN deal
will bring in more money than the other sponsorship deals.
In another major sponsorship deal, travel and financial
services company American Express has been confirmed as
naming rights sponsor of the Viaduct &endash; to be renamed
the American Express Harbour. American Express will promote
the America's Cup globally and contribute cash - understood
to be between $7 million and $8 million.
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Auckland
Anniversary Regatta (01/25/01)
(source : stuff.co.nz)
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Team New Zealand's America's Cup yachts
will return to the public eye for the first time since defending
yachting's Auld Mug last year at the Auckland Anniversary
Regatta next Monday.
Subject to weather conditions on the day, the team's two
yachts NZL57 and the America's Cup winning NZL60 will demonstrate
a pre-start and a short course match race in the confined
area of the inner Auckland Harbour between Orakei Wharf
and North Head. Suitable wind conditions would allow the
black boats to sail in the area of the Harbour overlooked
by Devonport's North Head and Tamaki Drive on the southern
shore.
Team New Zealand plan to leave their base by 9.30am which
should allow them to be under sail in the designated area
by 10.15am.
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TNZ
looks for an opponent to race (12/10/00)
(source : QuokkaForum
From the Sunday Star Times 10/12/00)
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The dusters are out, the skirts are on
and the prospect of squaring off against an America’s Cup
challenger looms for Team New Zealand. On Tuesday, NZL60
and NZL57 will hit the waters off Auckland for the first
time since the kiwis defended the cup 5-0 against Italy’s
Prada earlier this year.
It’s back to business for skipper Dean Barker and his teammates
and the shroud of secrecy, which covers all the syndicates’
development work, is back as well. Team NZ chief executive
Ross Blackman confirmed that the keels of the cup winning
NZL60 and NZL57 were covered by skirts. “The skirts will
stay on all the way through,” Blackman said. “We will be
making changes and we do make them quite often. If our competition
don’t know what we are doing, it just helps us stay one
step ahead of them.”
The pre-Christmas phase of the on-the-water programme is
essentially a massive dust-off. Blackman said Team New Zealand
wanted to ensure everything was A1 before the intensive
training and development testing began in the new year.
“We are just making sure the boats are back together and
that all the systems are working,” Blackman said. “We are
dusting everything off and dusting ourselves off. We want
to know the shore system is working and the team is back
so that we hit the ground running in January. We have figured
if there are any glitches in the systems let’s find them
out before Christmas and not waste time in the new year.”
The summer training programme will be a mixture of honing
crew work and boat testing. And it could include a sparring
session with a challenger. Blackman confirmed he had held
discussions but wasn’t saying how many, or which, challengers
had been contacted. A challenger trialling against the defence
syndicate is an extremely delicate issue. There was a furore
late last year when Nippon skipper Peter Gilmour broke an
informal agreement among the six Louis Vuitton semifinalists
that no one would help Team NZ by working up against them.
Stars and Stripes head Dennis Conner and America One skipper
Paul Cayard condemned Gilmour with Conner suggesting it
was all “win, win, win for Team New Zealand”. With no Road
To The America’s Cup series, Blackman indicated Team NZ
was keen to engage a challenger. “My guess is that it will
happen,” he said. “We would like to and the indications
are that there is a good chance there will be some sailing
this summer.”
Blackman said the chances of challenger-defender trialling
were a lot higher as the syndicates would be using boats
from the last regatta, not the new ones for the next America’s
Cup. Blackman said time on the water was important in the
team’s learning process. “Everyone has ideas on how things
can be improved and how the boats can be crewed more efficiently
in terms of how manoeuvres can be done more quickly or how
the boat can come out of a manoeuvre with more speed,” he
said. “All of those ideas are tested and trialled.”
Several challengers have been sailing on the Hauraki Gulf
for a number of weeks but Blackman was unfazed that Team
NZ had been beaten out of the dock. He said the emphasis
had been on planning rather than racing. “It is the planning
at the beginning of a campaign which leads to a win at the
end,” he said. Meanwhile Blackman said the syndicate was
well advanced in terms of finalising negotiations with its
“family” of five major sponsors. “Things are progressing
well,” he said. “There is a good chance there will be a
pre-Christmas announcement.”
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News
from the Team NZ (11/27/00)
(source :
NZ Herald)
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1. Team New Zealand's sailors have started
work for the next America's Cup. Last week, the crew sailed
against each other in a mock matchracing grand prix on the
Waitemata Harbour.
2. The new-look crew now numbers 31, with four top dinghy
sailors the latest recruits. New Zealand's Olympic 49er
crew Dan Slater and Nathan Handley have signed up for the
middle of the boat, and Finn sailors Joe Spooner and Ian
Baker are the new grinders. .
3. Bertrand Pace, the world's No 1 matchracing skipper,
walked into Team NZ's black shed for the first time and
started his new job. "I've had to wait three months for
this, but I am so happy now I'm here. I cannot wait to steer
the black boat", the French skipper said with a grin.
His decision to leave the French challenge to become back-up
helmsman for Dean Barker and coach for the Team NZ sailors
prompted a mixed response in France. "I think 99 per
cent of the people are very happy for me - they can understand
what a big acknowledgement it is for a French sailor",
he said. "Everyone except the French syndicate is happy.
When we finished the last America's Cup in February, there
was a lot of criticism about everybody in Le Defi. It was
difficult to have a proper analysis. Let's say I am happy
to leave France".
Pace has no preconceived ideas about whether he will sail
on the Team NZ race boat alongside Barker, the world matchracing
champion, in the 2003 America's Cup. "I did not come
here to be either on or off the boat. I'm here to help Dean
and the team to have a successful defence", he said.
"My first job is to be an outside person coming in with
a different perspective on things".
4. Takapuna-based Phonak NZ provided waterproof earpieces
free for the defenders last Cup and plans to do the same
next time around (but not for Oracle Racing !).
The system can track a moving sound and suppress it, vastly
improving the quality of sound for the hearing-impaired,
who have trouble with background noise. Earpieces can be
fitted to all crew, but those at the bow, farthest from
the skipper, and the crewman looking after the sails down
in the "sewer" benefit the most. America's Cup rules prohibit
the yachts from carrying gear that can pick up signals sent
from off the boat. Although the system works only one way
- allowing the skipper to communicate with the crew but
not the other way around - it helped Team NZ by cutting
down the confusion caused by the need to yell above the
background noise.
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Black
Magic tank testing (11/08/00)
(source : Sail24.com)
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Team New Zealand boss Tom Schnackenberg
is reported to be pleased with the performance of their
initial design concepts after the first session of tank
testing at the Wolfson Unit in Southampton, UK.
He was quick to add that, although there were some interesting
performance indicators, their Cup boat would not be built
until 2002 so there would be many more changes to the design
before then. He added that his team would narrow down their
options and begin to finalise their design as the build
time approached.
By returning to the Wolfson, Schnackenberg, recently inducted
into Sailing’s Hall of Fame, is following the same path
that led to victory in 1995 and 2000. This time however,
he is without the designer of the previous two boats, Laurie
Davidson, because Davidson has signed with Craig McCaw’s
Seattle-based OneWorld Challenge.
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Bertrand Pacé, 38, won the Swedish Match
Grand Prix Sailing Tour last week when Dean Barker of New
Zealand, his main competitor, was eliminated during the
first round by Chris Dickson, also of New Zealand. Pacé
was not in Bermuda to race the Gold Cup as he was on holiday
in France, resting and preparing the next step of his career—moving
to New Zealand to prepare with Team New Zealand for the
2003 America's Cup.
"Training in Auckland will begin in December," says Pacé.
"It's very exciting to know that I will sail the boats that
won the last America's Cup—it's going to be a great moment."
After a short break, training will resume from January to
April. Pacé's schedule also includes racing on the 2001
match-race circuit, and perhaps leading an entry in the
next Admiral's Cup.
"The latter is just a project at the moment, there's nothing
organized yet," he says. Yet, now that he is done wrestling
with Barker for first place on the match-race circuit, Pacé
will soon battle the young skillful helmsman in Auckland.
"It's a good omen," he says. "The motivation will be higher
when we train against each other. We will work in order
to increase each other's level."
However, leaving France for New Zealand is not that easy.
"I really see it as a big human and technical challenge,"
he says. "I'm leaving my country, and the French Défi, but
I know I will be working with the best team in the world
for the next Cup. It will be enriching because as part of
the team I will be totally involved in the boat and project
development."
Pacé is especially excited about the opportunity to work
with Tom Schnackenberg, TNZ's project manager, one of the
best in the business. "It's emotionally very strong for
me to know that I will be working with such a man," says
Pacé. "It gives me even more motivation."
Pacé may not be the only French sailor within the New Zealand
syndicate. Of the 32 members that will compose the sailing
team, Team New Zealand is still looking for four or five
sailors to add to the squad. Some of them may be French
sailors that sailed with the BTT Défi last year alongside
Pacé.
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TNZ
expected to sail in Auckland (10/21/00)
(source : NZ
Herald)
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Trying to save a dollar (?), TNZ are rebuilding
the Viaduct base themselves (But it helps to have trained
carpenters among the crew like bowmen Joey Allen and Jared
Henderson, and trimmer James Dagg).
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.
In the same time, Dean Barker and Cameron Appleton head
to Bermuda to contest the regatta against the former Team
NZ skipper Russell Coutts and other America's Cup skippers
(not Bertrand Pacé "because he does not like
the boats", with "his short stature, he finds
it difficult to see where he is going").
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.
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