Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton is confident his syndicate
can make a successful switch if the America's Cup's future
lies in multihull yachts.
The cup has traditionally been raced in monohulls, but this
month's one-on-one duel between Swiss holders Alinghi and
American challengers Oracle featured a giant catamaran
against a giant trimaran.
Oracle's trimaran ended up turning the series off Valencia
into a mismatch, easily winning 2-0 to return the Auld Mug to
the United States.
The next regatta is expected to revert to its normal format
of having several challengers.
However, Oracle, owned by software billionaire Larry Ellison
and with New Zealander Russell Coutts as chief executive,
have so far given no details about where or when it will be,
or what type of boat will be used.
Dalton said today that Team NZ's strength lay in monohulls,
but multihull racing, if a box rule were to be brought in to
contain costs, offered an exciting challenge.
"We are a team that can adapt really quickly and just change
direction, whereas a lot of teams would struggle to do that,
or do it quickly," he said.
"If it went to multihulls, we would be into Extreme 40
sailing and that sort of thing instantly.
"There's a side of me that says it would be quite good
because it would be exciting. Our strengths lie in monohulls,
but we could adapt."
Dalton had no inside information on when Oracle and Italian
syndicate Mascalzone Latino, who as challenger of record
represents all challengers, would confirm the protocol for
the next America's Cup.
At the same time, it wasn't something he was worrying about.
"We could easily get ourselves tied up in thinking about it,"
he said. "It will happen, just like it did the last time and
the time before that.
"What type of boat is an issue. It will make us go one way or
the other. We're just making sure we're ready to go either
way."
Team NZ's immediate focus is on the Louis Vuitton Trophy
event in Auckland next month, in which eight syndicates will
take part.
Before then, skipper Dean Barker will be engaged in the
Auckland match-racing regatta, which begins next Wednesday.
That event features a high-quality field including a host of
America's Cup skippers as well as the new world match-racing
champion, New Zealander Simon Minoprio.
Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton spokesman Bruno Trouble believed a
move to multihulls would be detrimental to the America's Cup
as a spectacle.
A former cup skipper, the Frenchman feared it would lead to
too many one-sided contests.
"In a monohull, the difference between two boats is five or
10 percent of a knot," he said.
"In Valencia, we saw a difference of between two and four
knot, so I don't believe match-racing in multihulls is a good
solution."
What Trouble did say was good news was Oracle's defeat of
Alinghi.
"We really believe the Americans will respect the America's
Cup traditions and history, while we were not really
confident with the Swiss," he said.
"So I think the Americans' winning the America's Cup is a
good event, that's for sure."
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