Well, here is chapter 6 of The Team New Zealand story 1995 - 2003 book which is the new team that I'm doing today on my blog:
The Team New Zealand name remains for the third America's Cup regatta on end but differences abound in its set-up as it counts down to February 2003 & the 31st defence of the Auld Mug.
Those changes can be found in the team's structure. Where Sir Peter Blake was the anointed head of the syndicate in the 1995 & 2000 models, the newest version features a flat management tier with the four chiefs effectively working alongside each other. The chief executive is Ross Blackman, Tom Schnackenberg is both the syndicate head & the design co-ordinator. Tony Thomas the executive director & Dean Barker heads the sailing team skipper.
That represents a philosophical shift in management structure & style as Team New Zealand seeks to keep the cup in Auckland for a third term.
But obviously the most distinct differences between this Team New Zealand & its predecessors can be seen in the personnel involved, especially on the water.
In 1995 & 2000, the crew was built around some of world yachting's highest achievers in Russell Coutts, Brad Butterworth et al. But now they've gone, the 2003 defence hails Team New Zealand's new breed, although still with some very experienced hands on board.
Schnackenberg's the definitive veteran. He's a unique achiever as well because he was sails co-ordinator for John Bertrand when Australia II made the historic breakthrough by winning the America's Cup in 1983. And, of course, he was a winner again with Team New Zealand in 1995 & 2000.
So Schnackenberg - who, of course, doubles as an accomplished navigator - gives the present a powerful link with the past. So do Barker, Joe Allen, Tony Rae, James Dagg, Tom Dodson, Mike Drummond, Nick Heron, Peter Evans, Jeremy Lomas, Grant Loretz, Jonathan Macbeth, Winston McFarlane, Barry McKay, Richard Meacham, Chris Mitchell, Matt Mitchell, Hamish Pepper & Chris Ward. They're all hardened sailors who also have a healthy knowledge & understanding of the Team New Zealand culture.
Adding to that fund of expertise are new additions Erle Williams - who's been literally everywhere in yachting - & Frenchman Bertrand Pace, one of the back-up helmsmen who made his mark with Le Defi in Auckland in 2000.
There's proven quality, too, in the likes of weather experts Mike Quilter & Roger Badham, rules adviser Russell Green, sail designer Burns Fallow, principal designer/strategist Clay Oliver & weather boat observer Mark Orams.
Around these so-called old salts are a lot of newer faces, though. In short, it's succession planning at work as Team New Zealand enters a new phase.
Another key to the 2003 defence operation is an adherence to the principle that versatility or multi-skilling is a prime requirement. So when the rule is run over the team personnel those qualities stand out.
Schnackenberg has already been mentioned with his three-pronged responsibilities & Drummond's another who mixes his work as a principal on the design team with his talents as a navigator. Likewise Loretz who's a sail designer & trimmer while project manager Phil Douglas is also a capable sailor & an umpire.
Williams, as another example, is in the sailing team as a tactician/strategist but he's also a vital cog in the spars/rigging unit. Others who double up in both the sailing team & the spars/rigging area are Allen, Heron, sailing team floater Lance Manson & bowman Richard Meacham.
Blackman puts it this way: ''We don't need the best individual in the world in a role. They must be able to cross-pollinate. Everyone here has a primary role & then a secondary one.''
''The sailors must also be capable boat builders, sail makers, strategists or weathermen. It's an underlying pre-condition of being part of Team New Zealand. We don't think of ourselves as being made up of several teams, even though we may loosely talk about the sailing team, the shore crew & the design team. Team New Zealand is just one team.''
Outside Barker & Pace, Team New Zealand has another accomplished helmsman in Cameron Appleton who has the benefit of exposure to the operation in 2000 but, of the names in the 2003 sailing team, the most eye-catching addition is one that comes in the considerable shape of champion Olympic rower Rob Waddell. After striking gold in the single sculls in Sydney in 2000, he swapped his skiff for the ultimate power-packed job of a grinder with Team New Zealand. It would be some feat if Waddell can, in the space of a little more than three years, set himself apart as an Olympic champion & a member of an America's Cup-winning crew.
Team New Zealand has lost an awful lot of sailing manpower to rival syndicates for the 2002-2003 regatta but the depth & breadth of the country's sailing ability is hardly in doubt judging by the names lined up to defend the sport's biggest prize.
It brings to mind an American skipper of world reown who made a telling observation around the time of the 2000 defence.
He marvelled then at the quality of Team New Zealand's crew & those who couldn't even make the cut (being forced to work for other syndicates instead). New Zeakabd, he said, had enough sailors to put together three crews more than good enough to win the America's Cup; the United States, he believed, was flat out trying to find one crew of that standard.
Chancers are that same skipper now thinks the equation has jumped to 4-1 or even 5-1 in New Zealand's favour.
So that is my 266th blog of the year 2019 (MMXIX) & my 6th of this year.
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