America's Cup - Burling and Tuke reflect on a fortnight in Bermuda

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ on 7 May 2017 Strong winds on Saturday precluded sailing on the Great Sound, with the teams having an unscheduled work day to get through the never-ending work and maintenance lists, with just three weeks to go before the start of the Qualifier Series.

Speaking with Radio Live's Brendan Telfer on Saturday afternoon, Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling said the team's AC50 was definitely sailing faster in Bermuda than she had been in Auckland.

'When we left Auckland there were so many things that we knew we had to work on and improve.'

'We need to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and make it all come together and work.'

'We're really excited by the gains we have been managing to get over the last little while. We are very happy with the background work we did in Auckland over our summer. That's put us in a strong position.'

'Our task is just to keep making the AC50 quicker, and if you don't have enough speed, it is almost impossible to win a yacht race,' said the Olympic Gold and Silver medalist.

'Our most important task is to make the boat incredibly fast. We are getting some big step forwards, and a lot of that is based on the work we did back in Auckland. A lot of the big components like new rudders and foils take an incredibly long time to build because they are so complex, and a lot of those design decisions were made a long time ago.'

Burling said they were initially getting a lot of attention from the others teams spy boats. While there had been teams following the Kiwis on the water in Auckland, the Great Sound was a small piece of water to accommodate six America's Cup teams wanting to sail at the same time.

'On the water, we are looking at what they are doing, what angles they are sailing what kind of configuration they have got. We can look out of the wind of our tent and look straight into the Oracle shed - so we can see what is going on over there.'

Burling told Brendan Telfer that the team were pleased to be sailing on the America's Cup course.

'It's cool to be sailing on the water that we will be racing in three weeks time. We are learning very quickly what works here. I think we will be in a very good space in three weeks to be able to get into it,' he added.

Updating on the team's switch to cycle-style grinding on the teams winch-less AC50, Burling said the team had made the decision to go down the cycling route a long time ago.

'It was impressive how good the guys were on the first day of sailing. It is something that we are improving. But if we do win the America's Cup, cycle-grinding will only be a small part of it. There are so many things that are incredibly innovative, and well-thought out pieces of engineering.'

Referring to the nosedive soon after leaving the team base in strong winds on the Wednesday of Practice Session 4, Burling said while the incident wasn't ideal they did learn from it, and took confidence from the fact that the AC50 could withstand such a violent nosedive, and the cycle-grinders all remained seated, and weren't thrown out of their seats.

The nosedive occurred after the team were caught unawares after sailing out from behind a seawall alongside the team's base in the Royal Dockyard. The leeward bow immersed completely back to the crossbeam - the only damage being to some easily replaced cross beam fairing.

'The guys on the bikes were absolutely fine,' Burling said. 'It does give us a lot of confidence going forward. The incident showed the boat was definitely up to it,' said Burling. 'Now we know that we can push her very hard.'

Turning to weather expected for the America's Cup, Burling said that despite the strong winds that had prevailed to date, they were expecting 70-80% of the racing to take place in the 10-12kt wind range.

'We're ready for whatever gets thrown at us. We fell like we are in a really good space.'

Burling said that while it was good to be able to line up against other teams for the first time on the final day of Practice Session 4, he confirmed that not all the teams had their latest hardware on their AC50's. 'We're very happy with how we are going - in both handling and speed. We are going to have to keep pushing on and getting better.'

Burling says the sailors can feel the change in season coming to the mid-Atlantic archipelago, with temperatures rising and winds starting to get lighter.

'Bermuda is a nice place to sail. The water is warm and very clear. Generally, we get nice, flat water. There are a few shifts in the breeze, but otherwise, we are getting perfect sailing conditions. In the last couple of weeks, the temperature has been rising to be more like the weather we can expect during the America's Cup.'

Despite having only one day off since their arrival in Bermuda, Burling said the team still had a lot of work ahead of them. 'You only have to look at the calendar and work lists to realise how much there is to be done before we get racing in three weeks time. We need to get through the work, so we have a fast enough boat, and when we do get on the start line, we can put our best foot forward.'

The other half of the Olympic Gold medal winning crew, Blair Tuke echoed Burling's sentiments the during an interview with NewstalkZB's Tony Veitch.

'We are certainly happy with where we are at, but it is going to be a close yacht race - that is for sure.'

'While we had our eye on the other teams before we arrived in Bermuda, what they are managing to do is very impressive. There's not much between Oracle Softbank and Artemis. They are pushing the limits, and their boats are going well.'

While the Great Sound is very congested during practice, with up to six teams on the water, chase boats and spy boats all chopping up the water. Tuke says that will ease back once the racing starts - with teams being limited to a single chase/safety boat and only one pair of boats racing at a time.

He compared the current state of congestion to like being in a surfing contest where all the competitors line up trying to catch a wave at the same time.

'Everyone has to keep their eyes peeled, and on the lookout for other boats coming from various directions as the closing speeds are so fast', he explained.


Tuke says the initial intrigue from the other teams towards Emirates Team New Zealand has eased back with the passage of time. 'Now is just business as usual. Everyone is out there training, trying not to get in each other's way.'

'Everyone is just like us - trying to make the boat go faster, trying to execute manoeuvres.'

He confirmed that there was a lot more on board Emirates Team NZ's AC50 that was contributing to speed other than just the four pedalling cyclists - which were the twice America's Cup winning team's most obvious feature.

'How we power the boat, and the way we get the hydraulic fluid around the boat is different from the other teams. We are still happy with the route we have taken But at the same time you can have all the power in the world, but if you have bad daggerboard design, then you are not going to go fast, and having all that power is pointless.'

Tuke also made the point that the other teams don't have their boats fully configured with their final set of racing gear.

'There's not far to go now, and teams have got to be getting ready to race. The other teams are getting very slick with their warm-ups and how they intend to race. They are definitely pushing, and they are getting around the track very nicely. Certainly, it is going to be a boat-race come the Challenger series.'