Rising intensity in Barcelona: one month until racing begins

One month in a three-and-a-half-year campaign is not a lot of time. 30 days is a blip in the overall campaign which signals that racing is just about to begin. For Emirates Team New Zealand, it comes with a heightened sense of excitement and tension as focus narrows to refinement on the never-ending quest for more speed and race readiness.

“It's pretty exciting,  we are one month out from racing, and each day leading up to it we're out in the race course area, training in a quite a confined space.” Explained Emirates Team New Zealand Mechanical Engineer Tim Meldrum.

“Everyone wants a slice of the area that we're going to be racing so we're reasonably close to the other race boats. The rules prohibit us from lineups right now, so the preliminary regatta is our first chance to properly gauge how fast we're going in all aspects; not just speed but getting around the race course, upwind, downwind with manoeuvres.

We're going to be really observant of our own speed and where our strengths and weaknesses lie against our competitors which will be the real decider to truly know how we’re positioned at this point of the overall program.”

Which is a critical point for all teams. The preliminary regatta, while not counting for any points in the overall scheme of things, will no doubt contribute to teams internal levels comfort or discomfort as to where they are relative to other teams, and what developments they have in the pipeline towards being primed for the America’s Cup Match in October.

Being the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, by default, is qualified for the America’s Cup Match, the other five challengers must fight it out over the Louis Vuitton Cup which begins just days after the conclusion of the preliminary regatta. With this in mind the Emirates Team New Zealand priorities may differ to those of the challengers according to flight controller Blair Tuke.

“While the Preliminary regatta is going to come around very fast, the priority for us before then is still trying to get the boat to go fast, but quickly that will turn into race focus so the preliminary regatta and then the early stages of the Louis Vuitton round robins will be obviously very important for us in that regard.

But any time we get to line up against the opposition we take it very seriously and obviously want to use that opportunity to learn as much as we can and the team is highly motivated to keep pushing hard over the next few months.”

For the cyclors, the power providers onboard, there is always more to do to keep pushing and understanding the requirements of their role in being race ready, the 1% gains as Cyclor Hamish Bond explains.

“As the cyclor team, we know what we can do to optimize our performance. We're always looking for those little one percenters that we can improve on a daily basis.

In the month we have been sailing so far it has been good, we're getting more in tune with the boat. So now we're looking forward to doing some race laps to really get an understanding of the physiological requirements as a cyclor.”

One element which could have a deciding hand in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup is the venue itself, and the conditions it presents throughout the 2 months of racing. A perfect place for exciting racing in close proximity to the Barcelona beach front, but not without challenges for the teams.

“It's an amazing venue here in Barcelona. It's quite dynamic. And you can go from one fairly flat day, sort of champagne, flat water sailing to something with a whole lot of chop and a lot of wave height to contend with, plus cross waves and waves that are not going the same direction as the wind. So from tack to tack, you can have totally different characteristics.

It's going to be complicated, and it's really going to show what teams have learned and how well they can master the race course in any given condition.” Said Meldrum

With just one month to go before the preliminary regatta there is still a huge amount of work to continue for Emirates Team New Zealand, whose ultimate development objectives remain targeted on the America’s Cup Match.

For all of the teams, the preliminary regatta will certainly reveal a few insights, but not all.

Some cards will be laid bare on the table, others will not. One thing is for certain, the poker faces will remain firm until the points start to count.