America's Cup - Glenn Ashby on Emirates Team NZ's road to Bermuda

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 10 Jul 2016 Part 2 of the interview with Emirates Team NZ skipper Glenn Ashby. To read Part 1 click here

In this second part of the interview we look at what is going to happen once Emirates Team NZ get their 'AC49.5' sailing in Auckland, and how the campaign may shape up before they leave for Bermuda. (The AC49.5 is a reference to how close the team's test boat, the AC45S, is to an AC50 - thanks to the addition of a massive rudder ganrty it has near identical physical geometry to the AC50 to be used in the America's Cup, but which can't be launched until Dec 27, 2016.

Right now, Emirates Team New Zealand is behind the other teams and behind the position they would normally be in an America's Cup campaign.

In previous campaigns the Kiwi team usually goes in the Match or the Challenger series with the most time on the water of any of the teams. To be in their usual spot the team would have needed a AC45S in the water and sailing 6-9 months ago for it to have been any real use. Four teams – Oracle Team USA, Artemis Racing, Land Rover BAR and Softbank Team Japan achieved that benchmark.

“There is no doubt that we have a big hill to climb,” Ashby said at the end of Part 1.

To catch up, one of the advantages Emirates Team NZ will have is the large relatively sheltered waters of the Hauraki Gulf, allowing a 40nm long training track – a distance the AC45S will still cut out in about an hour. The available sailing water in Bermuda is much shorter.

“A lot of the two boat testing we will be able to do here will need a bit more space. The water in Bermuda is flat, and for testing systems we want to sail in similar conditions in Auckland.”

“Certainly out here we have a lot of options here with different breezes, and be able to sail quite a distance in flat water is exactly what will need to try and bridge the gap.”

Ashby says the weather information they have had back from Bermuda indicates that anything can be expected.

“We have to be good right through a range of conditions. That turns the Cup into a sailing event where you have to think about how you sail in light medium and heavy air. The top end at 25kts is a really good test. Anything over 20kts in these boats will be reasonably exciting.”

“The boats just wick up very quickly in not a lot of wind. When you get into the top end, I think they will be very exciting to sail because they are so small compared to the AC72 – everything happens a lot more quickly and dynamically. Potentially the AC45S/50 will be quite a handful when they get into a real breeze.

“The loads just go up exponentially, and you need to be careful when testing in top-end conditions. We don’t want to be breaking anything or hurting anyone. We just have to work into it like we did with the AC72.”

Those comments need to be read against the backdrop of the Kiwi team getting caught out 20nm out into the Hauraki Gulf with a tornado lashing city suburbs, during the work-up to the 34th America’s Cup. The decision was taken to run for home in winds of well over 30kts, with the AC72 crew pushing as hard as they could – letting the foils do the work and keeping the boat stable and relatively under control.

Ashby wouldn’t be drawn on whether Team New Zealand had started their AC50 build, with July being the usual start of what is usually a five-month build and commissioning period for an end of December launch.

“In the not too distant future”, was all he would say. “I think all the teams will have their AC50’s on their program from now on. Some of the things like the wingsail and other one design componentry will get built earlier in the program, and as we get further down the track, the components from the development program get built.”

“Rudders and daggerboards will be built right through the program. The AC50 components will be targeted for launching early next year.”

The way the planning stands, New Zealanders will see the Emirate Team New Zealand AC50 sailing on the Hauraki Gulf, possibly being tested against the team’s AC45S.

“The plan with the AC50 at the moment is to sail her in Auckland, but we are not sure for how long. We have to factor in the shipping to Bermuda. If we launch in Bermuda in late December, we are launching in the middle of winter, right after Christmas.”

“For us, the shipping needs to be factored into the program. We haven’t got an exact plan of what we are doing. We are still discussing all the options, and what is going to be best for us going forwards.”

The European teams, if they launch at home, will be launching into their winter, and then shipping to Bermuda – making that an unlikely option.

In New Zealand in late December and January, the summer days will be long and warm. Team NZ’s major component makers are within 20 minutes of the team’s Westhaven base It’s a good time to get through a lot of work, and no Christmas holidays.

“We are doing as much as we can in New Zealand because we are short on time and just when we launch the boat will be key.”

“While it is tempting to want to get to Bermuda early and be sailing, the conditions in January are quite different from March, April, and May. Leaving New Zealand in December or January means that we are missing out on a lot of long and useful days here.”

Ashby says that Emirates Team NZ’s presence in Bermuda will also be fairly low key compared to the facilities already erected by some of the more well-heeled teams.

“We will probably ship up a lot of the Auckland base facilities like we did in San Francisco.”

“It’s a little like going to an Olympic venue,” says the 2008 Olympic Silver medallist. “You obviously want to be there training as much as you can. There has to be some give and take from all the departments.”

“Things will fall into place over the next couple of months.”

One way of reducing the transit time is to fly the AC50 from Auckland to Bermuda.

Ashby thinks it is unlikely that parts off the AC45S will be cannibalised and used on the AC50 – as happened when Team NZ took components from their first AC72 and used them on the second boat sailed in the 2013 America’s Cup.

“Most of the components on here are test components and the hydraulics and electronics will be continually upgraded. Some of the components we install right at the end may get re-used. “

“We might be able to use some parts down the track like the trampoline and things like that which will clip across from one to the other. Again we are not 100% sure. We will have a better idea once we have got sailing. There are a lot of things which are decisions pending once we get on the water.”

The AC45S will be manually powered right from the first sail.

For the sailing crew, the lack of time on the water time has been difficult. “But they are all looking forward to getting into it. It has been hard not being able to go sailing. We have spent a lot of time in the gym and looking at videos and bits and pieces of what is actually going to be on the boat.”

“We will probably have four grinders in the six crew. You obviously need a helmsman and a wing sail trimmer, and still have to get boards and thing up and down. The other teams seem to have a mix of people who are good grinders but are doing other functions on the boat. I think it will be similar to the AC72’s where the grinders have other specific functions.

“The big guys will need to have to have a good knowledge of what is going on around them in the boat. But there is going to be a lot of handle spinning.

“I think they will be grinding 95% of the time. There are spots when for example you are trimming the wing – moving the clew - when you can stop, or they might move to other functions when they are topping up the accumulators for dagger board rake, and up down systems, for example.

“They are a slave ship from what I can gather.”