At the climax of Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12, Emirates Team New Zealand beat Alinghi 2-1 in the final to claim the Act title along with the 2006 Louis Vuitton ACC Championship. This marked the second season championship title for the Kiwis who also took top spot in 2004, to go along with a second place finish in the 2005 season.
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Grant Dalton
That being said, just one point separated first from fourth, so it would be wrong to conclude the Emirates squad is necessarily on the verge of bringing the America’s Cup back to New Zealand. Managing Director and leader of the team, Grant Dalton says the season titles are meaningless when racing begins next year, but the strong performance of his team in Act 12, and overall during the year confirmed they were moving in the right direction.
"One of our reasons for getting the second boat in the water so early is to gain trust in the new boat."
Grant Dalton
“What it means internally is that we’ve been able to continue on our track, because we’re comfortable that we’re going okay,” he says when asked what the championship means. “Let’s continue with our plan. The boat is okay, the guys are sailing alright. So management-wise we can continue on our path. We don’t have to change tracks.”
To say thing’s are ‘alright’ with Emirates Team New Zealand might be a bit of Kiwi understatement. The Emirates squad had a winning 4-1 record over Alinghi in 2006, and held a 3-2 advantage over BMW ORACLE Racing. In fact, among the top teams, it was Luna Rossa who gave the Kiwis the most trouble this year, holding Dalton’s team to a 1-1 stalemate (although the Emirates squad is up 4-1 going back to 2005).
The performance of Emirates Team New Zealand in Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 was a clear step up from the opening Acts in 2006 when the team posted two third place finishes.
“In the last regatta, we pulled ourselves out of a pretty big hole from the first Act of the year. We know we had underperformed. We hadn’t been in race mode long enough, because we had to keep testing so that we could finalise the design of NZL 92,” Dalton explains. “So I’m happy with the harmony, development and belief that the sailing team has arrived back in NZ with.”
NZL 92 – an early arrival
Emirates Team New Zealand is the first team to sail its second new boat, NZL 92, in marked contrast to the Team New Zealand which lost the Cup in Auckland in 2003. That team seemed to run out of time, launching both of its boats late and suffering from reliability issues during the Cup Match. Dalton was determined not to make the same mistake this team around, launching the boat in mid-October.
“We are pleased with the new boat,” he said after the team had sailed it for a month. “I’m not going to say where it sits compared to NZL 84, but 84 is a good boat as well. History shows that often you race the old boat. Probably it’s more tested, it’s more reliable and you trust it more. One of our reasons for getting the second boat in the water so early – although I don’t think it’s that early, I think everyone else is late – is to gain trust in the new boat.”
“I guess we did take a chance a little bit in designing the second boat so early, without really being absolutely sure that NZL 84 was okay in terms of its speed. And I think now we will reap the reward of taking that chance.”
Emirates Team New Zealand - Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12
With the focus off design, the team is now working hard on race practice and learning about its new boats. Skipper Dean Barker is the number one man behind the wheel, but rookie Ben Ainslie is coming along strong, winning a recent World Match Racing Tour event in San Francisco over several big Cup skippers. Barker then beat BMW ORACLE Racing’s Chris Dickson and Gavin Brady in an Auckland event. Dalton is pleased that Ainslie has developed quickly enough to give Barker some tough in-house races.
“What it means is that there is a good edge on our in-house stuff. There have been some good, fiery exchanges on the water in our in-house stuff recently. Ben is coming along really well and I’m pretty happy that we have that kind of depth on our team. That is something Team New Zealand lacked last time. This time we have a lot more depth in our sailing team than we used to have,” he says.
Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12
As with the other top teams, complacency is the enemy. After a successful 2006, it would be easy for Emirates Team New Zealand to rest on its championship title. But anyone who knows Dalton is aware that he’s not prepared to let that happen.
“One of the strengths of Alinghi last time was their solidarity that they were able to maintain when the pressure came on, whereas Team New Zealand fell apart. That’s the biggest thing we can do…we have to perform under pressure and be the best we can be,” he says. “We’re just keeping our heads down and working hard. And we are working hard here, we don’t know how to do it any other way.”
Statistics
The biggest winning delta for Emirates Team New Zealand came against China Team, who fell by 7:07. That was the biggest difference in a match in 2006.
The biggest losing delta was 1:08 minutes when the Kiwis lost to Luna Rossa during the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 10.
Emirates Team New Zealand finished third in the fleet racing of Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 11 with a (2, 2, 4, 5, 7) scoreline.
The closest win for Emirates Team New Zealand came by just 11-seconds and it happened twice in Louis Vuitton Act 12. First, over Luna Rossa Challenge during the round robin, and again over BMW ORACLE Racing during the semi finals.
Emirates Team New Zealand only made one comeback after they had trailed at a mark. This came during the semi-finals of Louis Vuitton Act 12 against BMW ORACLE Racing.
The Kiwis only lost four matches in 2006, to: BMW ORACLE Racing (2), Luna Rossa Challenge and Alinghi.
The team has lost just one race on the final run. That was against Alinghi during the finals of Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12.
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