 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
Club:
Union Nationale pour la Course au large, France
Skipper: Philippe Presti
Manager: Pascal Herold
Design: Philippe Pallu de la Barriere
Main Backer: Monster.com
Budget: $26 million |
|
 |
|
| www.teamnz.org |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Dean
Barker has risen to the onerous challenge of defending the Cup with
the help of Tom Schnackenberg, who refused to sell out to the big
overseas offers. With Schnackenberg commanding respect as design co-ordinator,
Barker set out to prove he could perform at the level required to
win the America’s Cup. First proof came in February, when Barker
and team were invincible at the America’s Cup International Regatta.
But the final step came this summer when Barker beat Coutts twice
at international match racing regattas. It raised the stock of Team
New Zealand instantly.
With the advantage of not having to race the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger
trials through the New Zealand spring, when the weather is wide-ranging,
Team New Zealand launched their first boat during August, with the
second due to come on stream as the Challengers begin racing. The
boats will have been designed with the luxury of not only having seen
where the Challengers are at, but with the knowledge that the racing
weather window is only a couple of weeks wide in February 2003. It
is a significant advantage.
But the road has not been easy. First, Team New Zealand found all
of their design data had walked out of the door with erstwhile design
team members. More recently, the team have been suffering from a lack
of funds.
Nevertheless, with Barker established in the skipper’s role and
young talent such as Hamish Pepper and others in the afterguard, not
to mention the formidable brain of Tom Schnackenberg masterminding
the new boats, the new Team New Zealand are still hungry, still have
much to prove and will still be ranked as favourites to retain the
Cup. |
| |
| |
|
|
