Crews to be put through paces

Press, 25 July 1986, Page 36

Crews to be put through paces

NZPA staff correspondent Sydneyr The New Zealand challengers for the America’s Cup will next week put themselves through a dress rehearsal for the cup elimination series, match-racing their two boats in nine races over 10 days. The Kiwis, who will soon have their new boat, KZ7, to work with, intend the workout to be as close as possible to the real thing; any damage or adjustments to boats will be done overnight in time for racing the next day. The series is designed to test both the boat crew and the shore crew and have them on pitch for the arrival of the new boat, New Zealand 11. The two boats, the world 12-metre championship campaigners, KZ3 and KZS, will be racing in new English masts which arrived at Fremantle last week and have already been stepped in the now veteran racers.

In their search for optimum performance the New Zealand design trio of Laurie Davidson, Bruce Farr and Ron Holland have switched back to the more conventional twospar rig, rather than the three-spar designs they used towards the end of the championships. The three-spar masts, made to New Zealand specifications by the Australian Zapspar company, were regarded as radical in the restricted world of 12-metre racing and have served the Kiwis well.