Gladwell's Line- America's Cup skipper coup denied by Burling

by Richard Gladwell on 20 Feb 2015 The man at the heart of the focus of the Emirates Team New Zealand skipper brouhaha, Peter Burling, said in an interview a few days before the latest media frenzy, that no decision had been made, and that he expected that the fastest skipper would be at the helm of Emirates Team NZ's AC62 in the 2017 America's Cup.

In a wide-ranging interview, yet to be published in Boating New Zealand magazine but extracted online, Burling commented:

'I think the main thing is that the best guy at driving the boat is going to drive it.

'At the moment there are no pre-agendas about that. Whoever they think is going to get it around the course better is going to drive. For myself, obviously I have got to improve a fair bit between now and then and everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. I have got to make sure that I will be ready. '

The full story can be read by clicking here

That statement is entirely consistent with previous statements by Team New Zealand that all positions on the boat will be contested through a rigorous selection process.

On Thursday, sources very close to Emirates Team NZ skipper, Dean Barker, thanked Sail-World for the story published in http://www.sail-world.com/131654!Sail-World_on_Tuesday_evening!: 'Thanks for writing a balanced view on what is being played out in the media.'

The source also indicated that Barker was very disappointed with the way the issue had been handled in the social media.

It would appear from the comments by both parties that claims of a coup in the Team afterguard are completely incorrect and unfounded.

The claims were run in all major general news outlets without any sources being named, and the claimed scenario defied deeper analysis.

Olympic priority
Peter Burling has often been on the record as saying that his priority is the 2016 Olympics and to improve on the Silver medal he won on 2012 in Weymouth.

Should he achieve that feat he will be 25 years old - two years older than his countryman Russell Coutts, who won his Gold medal in 1984 at the age of 23 years.

Coutts, now a five-time winner of the America's Cup did not take over the skipper's position in Team New Zealand until after the 1992 America's Cup (even through he sailed two races in the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup Finals). Coutts had to serve an eight-year apprenticeship of match-racing before being appointed to the role by Peter Blake.

If the current media lines are to be believed, then Burling would be the choice ahead of a successful 2016 Olympic campaign.

New management style:
After the 2013 loss in San Francisco, and the soul-searching that followed that effort, a restructuring of Team New Zealand took place. Included in that was the installation of an independent Board, a change in the management structure. Additionally it was announced that decision making would be put in the hands of a six-person Executive Committee, of which Dean Barker, as Skipper and Sailing Director was a member.

That begged the question in the current context, as to whether that Committee was operating - in which case it is hard to believe that the bombshell story that came out on Tuesday originated within that controlled management environment, or if there had been a swerve back to the management style of old, where most key decisions were made by then Managing Director Grant Dalton.

The strong indications had been since the announced restructuring that the team was working in the new style and structure. The touted lurch in management style, this week was contrary to that line.

Side-stepping selection
The expectation with the introduction of Peter Burling and his Olympic crew, Blair Tuke, was that they would have to earn their place on the boat.

CEO Grant Dalton oft commented that the only way Burling would be on the boat would be if he could beat the incumbent Dean Barker, and that they would be running a selection process on the water to determine that.

This move would introduce a degree of hardness into selection that had been externally perceived to be lacking in the team, which was often criticised for being a closed shop. Additional contenders in that selection mix would have to include multiple World A-Class catamaran Champion, Glenn Ashby and Blair Tuke, who was Silver medalist at the last A-class Worlds - beating Peter Burling who finished in third overall.

Burling did turn in a top performance at the 2015 foiling Moth Worlds, however that was his third Moth Worlds and the other sailors from Team New Zealand were on their first, with most having their first ever fleet race in the singlehander on the opening race of the Regatta. Even so, Tuke managed to win a race in the worlds on the first day of his first race in the event which attracted the world's top sailing talent, and members of four America's Cup teams.

Tuesday's revelation of an afterguard coup, and the installation of Burling as skipper, without having gone through that selection process blew that tenet out of the water as well.

Barker's record good
Barker is oft-criticized as three time losing skipper at America's Cup, however in terms of winning America's Cup races, he is equal second behind Russell Coutts on 14 races and Jimmy Spithill on 11 races. Barker has 11 race wins to his credit. Two of Spithill's wins were in the 2010 America's Cup, which was closed series - and on that basis Barker is ahead with those two wins discounted. Barker's is a hell of a record to throw out the door - particularly at this stage of a campaign, where Team NZ will need all the experience it can muster.

Although he has sailed the non-foiling version of the AC45 at Red Bull Youth America's Cup level, and for Team Korea in the ACWS, Burling has no track record at America's Cup level. Propelling the prodigious 24year old into the Team New Zealand hot-seat without so much as a sailing trial against Barker makes no sense.

No back up skipper
One of the serious flaws in the Emirates Team New Zealand campaign for the 34th America's Cup was lack of a real backup to Barker, due to illness, injury, or loss of form.

The option tried by Team New Zealand in one race of the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup, engaging expert wingsail trimmer Glenn Ashby - then a six-time World Champion in the singlehanded A-class catamaran and Olympic Silver medalist - was not convincing. Moving Ashby necessitated filling his vital role in the boat and triggered a chain of changes in the crew that would not have stood up to the pressure of an America's Cup Match.

Clearly the team need the plug and play option that a Barker/Burling combination offers, that will allow a seamless skipper substitution without disrupting the rest of the crew line-up.

Again if the media speculation is to believed in this week's afterguard coup, then far from covering that weakness it would have been exacerbated.

Olympic and America's Cup schedule clashes and burn-out
Turning to Peter Burling and his Olympic campaign in the 49er class. There is a direct clash in the first round of the America's Cup World Series, at which America's Cup teams are required to attend and sail in foiling one design wingsailed AC45 catamarans.

The first ACWS event is at Cagliari, Sardinia from June 5-7, 2015. That clashes with the ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Weymouth, England starting June 10. The other announced ACWS events in 2015 do not appear to clash with crucial Olympic build-up regattas. But the full schedule would require Burling (and Tuke) to compete in nine major regattas in five months between the 49er and ACWS events.

The risk of burn-out to the 24year old is substantial.

In 2016 the 49er regatta load lightens to some extent in the final build up the Olympic Regatta in Rio. But the number of ACWS regattas are likely to increase from the four scheduled in 2015 to six or maybe eight in 2016. The Olympic Regatta is staged from August 5-21, 2016, and the likely launch date for Team New Zealand's AC62 would be three weeks later in September 2016.

The projected date of an Auckland America's Cup World Series regatta is around February 2016 - clashing with the 49er Worlds on February 9-14 in Florida. Attendance, and a top five/ten placing at World Championships is essential to maintain High Performance Funding for Olympic campaigns in New Zealand - the 49er Worlds cannot be skipped for America's Cup duties.

That scheduling also leaves no gap for a break between the Olympics and an America's Cup development and testing program - and again the risk of burn-out is high - even allowing for a transition period to Bermuda around March-April 2017.

Lousy timing
Finally with the Team in very delicate negotiations over hosting the America's Cup Qualifier, garnering Government and other sponsor support, it is more than surprising that such a dramatic move on the skipper position would have been made at this time - indicating a lack of focus within the team and lousy timing.

Very little has been put forward to support the media frenzy over the touted change in skipper of Team New Zealand.

Some simple analysis shows that it is not really possible to combine a 2016 Olympic campaign with a 2017 America's Cup Challenge, without making a lot of compromises - which would clearly reduce the chances of success of winning both events.

Rather than blame Team New Zealand for its handling of the affair, the New Zealand sports media need to consider how they could be so gullible in giving this story so much credence with so little factual support. Three days later nothing new has emerged to support the original claims, and there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Turning a flame-thower onto the Team's handling of the media ruckus, is simply a ploy to hide the the media's own inadequacies and a situation that is of their own creation.