Team New Zealand: Getting ready for Bermuda ACWS

Video Source: TNZ Press – Team New Zealand has the most talented helm & trimmer pair for AC35 with the perfect mix of experience & performance. Peter Burling is dominating the 49er fleet along Blair Tuke, who is also part of the Team, and Glenn Ashby keeps owning the A-Class after more than a decade and in any of its forms, specially now with the refined foiling mode the As are showing downwind, which Ashby, Blair & Tuke pioneered at Takapuan Worlds 2014 along Mischa Heemskerk.

If Team New Zealand can keep up with Design all the way through 2017, they will have even more chances than last Cup at San Francisco. Ashby comments below on how other teams are looking up to their sailing the AC45s on TNZ press release I just received.
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PREPARING FOR BATTLE IN BERMUDA
Emirates Team New Zealand are preparing for their first sail on the very waters which will host the 35th America’s Cup in 2017.

This week the fleet of America’s Cup challengers get a taste of what is
to come in 2017 as they resume racing in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup
World Series, which Emirates Team New Zealand currently lead by seven
points.

Emirates Team New Zealand are the only team to finish inside the top
three positions in every race so far in the series and this is the
obvious key to keeping at the top end of the leaderboard and being given
every opportunity to be on the podium in here in Bermuda.

“I have heard quite a few of the other teams have been reviewing how we
have been sailing the boat particularly in Gothenburg, its nice that the
other teams are looking at us so we must be doing something right
particularly as we are leading the series.” said skipper Glenn Ashby

“It’s been a great couple of regattas in Portsmouth and Gothenburg, so
hopefully in Bermuda it will be a
good opportunity to get out there do
some more racing as we are still pretty short of practice as a group,
really we are still in our infancy of what we can achieve as a sailing
team, so we are really looking forward to getting back out onto the race
track and testing ourselves against the other teams.”

As a sailing location Bermuda is unique and the challenges of sailing here are well known to Ashby.

“One of the dynamic things about being here in Bermuda is that you are
in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There is
no land effect of the weather systems, they come in straight across the
ocean so what you get is what you get.”

Looking ahead at the forecast for the weekend it is anybody’s guess only two days out from the regatta start.

“At the moment we could have anything between light and heavy
conditions, all the meteorologists are unsure of what we are going to
get depending on a small system spinning off the coast of Bermuda. So we
just need to be prepared for whatever comes.”

“If the wind is light and from the west we can sail right in front of
the city front- very tight course should make for challenging racing and
great for the spectators.”

Aside from all of the challenges during the two days of racing for the
Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Bermuda, the importance of time
and experience on the very waters of the next America’s Cup is not lost
on the team skipper.
“Being able to get out here on the water of the Great Sound is very
special and, where hopefully, in a couple of years time we will have
some fantastic success. So it’s great to put your toe in the water so to
speak at this early stage.”

Friday local time is official practice race day, followed by two days of
racing on Saturday and Sunday to decide the winner of the event and the
establish the 2015 Louis Vuitton World Series leaderboard.

OVERALL STANDINGS AT THE LOUIS VUITTON AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES FOLLOWING THE FIRST TWO EVENTS

Emirates Team New Zealand – 72
Land Rover BAR – 65
ORACLE TEAM USA – 64
SoftBank Team Japan – 56
Artemis Racing – 53
Groupama Team France – 50