America's Cup: Emirates Team NZ say "no specific roles defined"

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 20 Apr 2018 00:27 UTC 20 April 2018

An Emirates Team New Zealand spokesman has clarified the situation with the sailing crew going into the Defence of the America's Cup in March 2021.

"Glenn and Pete are both committed to the team and a successful defence. Pete is on the Volvo Ocean Race at present, and as such, there has been no specific roles defined with the greater sailing team yet."

The statement was issued after a request from Sail-World this morning (Friday) after several media stories emerged yesterday based on inadvertent comments made by performance coach Ray Davies in a social media livecast that went to air eight days earlier.

When asked to clarify what "the greater sailing team" meant, the team confirmed, "no offers/decisions have been made on any sailing crew positions".

During the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in early March, it transpired that key crew members, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke did not yet have new contracts eight months after winning the America's Cup in Bermuda.

The mention that Burling had been re-signed by the team, during a Facebook online session was more significant as an indication that with the Venue apparently settled, the team had some funding lines crystallized and was settling into its work for the Defence of the 36th America's Cup.

Looking at the likely crew functions on board the AC75, a tri-foiling monohull which has never sailed previously, it was difficult to see how decisions could have been made on the skipper role or any other position within the team, and Sail-World decided not to report Davies' inadvertent comment.

While it is expected that Burling would be the designated helmsman, it is likely that the shots could be called by the skipper located more in the centre of the boat and closer to those controlling foils, sail sheeting, tactics and navigation functions. A centrally located skipper can see what is happening rather than be reliant on screen readouts and earpiece conversations before making decisions.

With the expanded crew from six to 11 sailors, it is likely that a tactician's role will come back into play and that is another function to be factored into crew selection.

It is also likely that a bowman will also be required in the re-jigged crew requiring a wider focus on crew functions than just the helm, skipper, trimmer, daggerboard control and cyclor/grinder roles on the AC50.

The risks of a skipper at the back end of the boat calling the shots was underlined in the 2013 America's Cup when ETNZ's AC72 was called into a tack close to the windward mark in Race 8 and almost capsized when the AC72 crew found mid-tack that they did not have sufficient hydraulic pressure to tack the wingsail.

A similar situation occurred in the Challenger Final when ETNZ misjudged the approach to the rounding the final mark of Race 6. They had to do a double gybe again with reduced pressure and a jammed daggerboard gasket which initially prevented the lowering of the foil, but recovered to win by just 1 sec in a vital result. Boat positioning errors were commonplace by all teams in the 2017 America's Cup. The one making the least was ETNZ who was the only one with a separated the skipper and helmsman function. The team had gone a step further and separated off the daggerboard trimming function to a third crew member.

During a media conference at the end of the Round Robin phase of the 35th America's Cup, Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill criticized the way Emirates Team NZ had split their crew functions. However, on reflection at the end of the regatta with a 49-5 mark win statistic, it was probably the Kiwis who had made the right call on the shorthanded AC50's.

With the America's Cup bases issues along with other key aspects of Defence, and Event logistics either confirmed or out of their hands, along with the announcement of the America's Cup Class Rule, the team would normally be expected to be sharpening their focus at this stage of the America's Cup cycle.

Inadvertent comment triggers story, eight days later

In the first edition of the Facebook video session, a series supposed to explain issues with the AC75 Class Rule and how the so-called Jesus Boats would function from a practical perspective team coach and 2013 tactician, Ray Davies said inadvertently that Peter Burling was the skipper and then moved straight on to the next question.

The show was conducted live on April 10 at 1930hrs (UTC) or 0730hrs On April 11, NZT and was hosted on the team's Facebook site.

No formal statement was issued by the team at the time on what would have normally been a significant announcement.

That comment was picked up eight days later by mainstream NZ media and blown into a story which featured in prime time news stories on both major TV channels in NZ.

In a sidebar to those stories mainstream media queried where that announcement left 2017 skipper Glenn Ashby, the America's Cup Defender told Sail-World on the evening of Thursday, April 19 that no roles had been properly decided as they were still working out the logistics of sailing the radical tri-foiling 75ft monohull.

That comment was re-confirmed on Friday morning after erroneous stories published in mainstream media, despite being advised of the correct situation by the Defender.

Multiple roles

A twice America's Cup winner Ashby has sailed in a different role in each of his three America's Cup campaigns.

On the AC50 wingsailed catamaran used in the 2017 America's Cup in Bermuda, Glenn Ashby had the role of trimmer and skipper - having previously been wingsail trimmer on the ETNZ AC72 in 2013, and before that as a coach for Oracle Racing in their 2010 120ft trimaran.

Of the six crew on board the AC50, Ashby was the only one with professional sailmaking experience - a prerequisite for most sail trimmers at America's Cup level. Additionally, Ashby is a multiple world champion in the singlehanded A-Class catamaran - foil-borne in its later editions and which runs a soft, single skinned mainsail - close to the double skinned soft mainsail that will be used, and which is unique to the AC75.

He is expected to be involved more in a wider trimming role in the AC75 which will set up to three soft sails compared to the single wingsail of the AC50, and jib, which were all hydraulically sheeted and controlled by Ashby on an X-Box controller.

It was also significant in the 2017 America's Cup that the three bottom placed teams had helmsmen who had three job functions - CEO, Skipper and Helmsman. The third and second placed teams had Helmsman and Skipper roles only, and the boat which won was steered by a sailor whose sole focus was that of Helmsman. Off camera, the difference in focus and time-demands ashore was very apparent.

Nationality clause minor issue

Earlier this year, Team CEO Grant Dalton was questioned as to whether Glenn Ashby, as an Australian national, would be trapped in the new Nationality clause. Dalton responded that the Australian had spent most of the previous three years in New Zealand, and didn't see a lot of issue with him continuing in this way to New Zealand. Ashby went on an extended camping tour in Australia after the America's Cup win and then started the regular commute back to New Zealand just before the Protocol announcement at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, on September 29, 2017.

The current storm in a teacup is similar to the situation which had its roots in January 2014 after Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were first signed, with the media line being that Burling would replace Dean Barker as helmsman. The story simmered for over a year before Barker left the team after declining a role as Performance Coach. It was Glenn Ashby, not Peter Burling, who was made skipper and Burling had a helming focus only for the America's Cup win.

Barker joined Softbank Team Japan as CEO skipper and helmsman, being eliminated along with Land Rover BAR in the Challenger Semi-Finals in Bermuda.

Barker has since signed with the New York Yacht Club's American Magic team and is currently leading the prestigious Congressional Cup Series, after winning the Ficker Cup earlier in the week. No announcement has been made as to whether he will helm or skipper their AC75, or if another sailor more easily contained within the America's Cup nationality rules will be engaged.

While not engaging in the TP52 racing circuit like announced Challengers Land Rover BAR (GBR), American Magic (USA) and Luna Rossa (ITA), Emirates Team New Zealand have had two of their sailing team, Josh Junior and Andy Maloney competing on the Olympic Finn circuit.

As well competing in A-class catamaran sailing, Glenn Ashby has sailed the five-event SuperFoiler Grand Prix in Australia with the SuperFoilers supposed to be close to the AC75. Cyclors Simon van Velthoven and Joseph Sullivan are sailing on various keelboat events to build experience for the AC75. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are competing in the Volvo Ocean Race - again to build keelboat experience.