Proving it's legal and then proving you can prove it, is what's occupying the minds of many people in and around the Viaduct Basin. How can Team New Zealand's innovative Hula device be legal?

The main cause for concern seems to be how the team has managed to build a shell that's fitted so close and yet doesn't touch the hull when sailing.

Here there are two schools of thought, those who see the 'hula' as a flexible shell, and those who understand just how rigid a complex curve can be, especially when it's built of carbon fibre and foam, (not that TNZ have confirmed the construction material).

As the questions bounce back and forth between Challengers and the Jury, Clay Oliver explains the background to the Hula on Team New Zealand's web site.

Click here to read his comments

Yachting World, 9 January 2003