Team New Zealand

Peter Blake killers jailed in Brazil (06/20/02) (sources : *cnn.com* & *reuters)*
A judge in northern Brazil has sentenced six men to over 20 years in prison each for the killing of New Zealand yachtsman Sir Peter Blake. Amapa state judge Jose Magno Linhares Moraes also gave three other men suspended sentences for their part in Sir Peter's death during a robbery attempt. Blake, 53, was shot to death while resisting pirates who seized his yacht as it was moored on the Amazon river near Macapa in Amapa state, 1,800 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro. The man who fired the actual fatal shots, Ricardo Colares Tavares, received a sentence of 36 years and nine months, but, in accordance with Brazilian law, will in reality serve no more than 30. Five others received sentences ranging from 35 years to 26 years. According to the verdict, which was posted on the Web site of Amapa state's regional federal court, the six were found guilty of murder after trying to rob Blake's yacht as it was moored on the Amazon River in December last year. "Many of the defendants confessed to varying degrees," said Augusto Adalto Cardoso Guedes, the judge's chief of staff. "I expect they will appeal the sentences." According to court documents, six defendants wearing hoods or motorcycle helmets boarded Blake's boat at around 9 p.m. and seized the craft. While the robbery was under way, Blake went into the cabin and returned with a gun which he fired, hitting robber Isael Pantoja da Costa in the hand. Tavares returned fire, hitting Blake twice in the back and killing him. The assailants then fled. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark -- who flew half way round the world to attend Blake's funeral in England and who had visited his ship during a trip to Brazil a month before Blake was killed -- said she was pleased the appalling crime had been dealt with promptly by Brazilian federal authorities. "Although the verdict will not bring Sir Peter back, it will at least give the Blake family the consolation of knowing that his killers have been brought to justice," Clark said in a statement.

If Team New Zealand lost the Cup ... (06/16/02)
(source : cnn.com)

"It's important for people to understand it won't be 5-0 again" have explained Dean Barker. "It's going to be a lot harder than ever before, we've got a battle to keep the Cup now".

The challengers will spend more than half a billion dollars in the head-to-head battle for the Cup. OneWorld and Oracle will spend nearly $80/90 million, making the $30 million budget of Team New Zealand (TNZ) look puny.

Many of the Challengers have plenty of cash-flow to spend on boat and sail development and the cash being spent by TNZ's rivals has also lured key personnel away from the defending champions.

The consequences of losing the Cup would not only affect sailing in New Zealand, but it would also have a major impact on the country's economy.

New Zealand has gained some $800 million in revenues from the America's Cup in tourism and the harbour has been completely redeveloped.

More, losing the title could also mean New Zealand would not participate in the next America's Cup tournament.

"I think if we were not to win the Cup, conceivably we would have no right to be guaranteed a strong challenge for the next Cup, explained Manager Tom Schnackenberg. "The New Zealand economy may not be able to afford a challenge, depending on where the Cup was to go".

"We just assume that if we lost the Cup, it would be game over. We are carrying the hopes and aspirations of the country."

Win in Trieste gives Team NZ a boost (06/10/02) (source : *NZ Herald)*
Dean Barker has scored a vital psychological victory for Team New Zealand over his toughest adversary, former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts, winning the final of the Omega Seamaster Cup in Trieste, Italy, this morning. Barker and nine of his Team New Zealand crew beat their former skipper and his Alinghi America's Cup team in the matchrace final. It was the first time Barker and Coutts had met in a matchrace since 1999 - and their first matchracing encounter since Coutts left Team New Zealand after the 2000 America's Cup. "A lot of the local media here were building it up all week as the big grudge match - the master against the apprentice," said Barker this morning. "I guess in a way it was kind of true. Russell has been a huge influence on my sailing career, and I was lucky to have learned from him in the last America's Cup campaign". "But there was no love lost out on the water today. So obviously we loved beating him." Not only was it an important win over the Alinghi team, but it also gave Barker a crucial morale boost eight months out from the America's Cup in Auckland next February. "Obviously it's huge for us to win this. The last couple of months have been pretty frustrating. After a couple of poor performances in the last two regattas, it was nice to come back and start sailing well again." "After sailing poorly in the Congressional Cup, I came home and had a good chat with Ross Blackman [Team New Zealand's chief executive] about how we could do much better on the water. "We realised that I had to focus much more on the sailing and less on the on-shore duties that go with being skipper. The management side is running really well, so now we can concentrate on the sailing side. The time has definitely come to be as good as we can on the water." Barker said he felt confident about his sailing throughout the regatta, sailing against a handful of skippers who will race on the Hauraki Gulf in the Louis Vuitton Cup starting in October. Barker will now return home before heading back to Europe where both he and Pace will compete in the final event on the Swedish Match Tour, the Swedish Match regatta.
TV ONE's coverage

Self-belief was still overflowing in the TNZ (05/04/02) (sources : Stuff.co.nz & *NZ Herald)*
Today, Team New Zealand's America's Cup defence suffered another setback today when one of its innovative masts snapped for a second time, racing in tough conditions on the Hauraki Gulf. No one was hurt when the mast and sails crashed over the side of NZL57 in strong, gusting winds. "We were very fortunate," said skipper Dean Barker. "Given the angle and the amount of breeze, it was lucky that no one did get injured. In those conditions it can be pretty dangerous. Frenchman Bertrand Pace was at NZL57's helm and was trailing close behind Barker on NZL60 when the mast snapped in winds approaching the limit of what would be encountered in cup racing. "We were in the middle of a race, and it was quite breezy, 15 to 27 knots," Barker said. "We were pushing the boats pretty hard and there was just a bang and we looked around and saw the mast toppling over the side. "We're still trying to ascertain what actually happened, but it was a case of us pushing the boats incredibly hard with old masts which have done a lot of work." "It's not human error, it's a mechanical, structural problem." explained Barker. The loss of the millennium rig for the second time in six months is a blow to Team New Zealand's budget and racing schedule but self-belief was still overflowing in the TNZ camp ahead of their second defence in February next year. "You have to be confident in your designers. I'm confident in our sailing team that they can sail the boat as well as anyone else," said Barker. "We have a really good mix of younger and experienced sailors in the team. And there's certainly no chance of anyone being complacent because we've got everything to prove this time". "We have to believe we've got a boat at least as fast and we've got the money to do it. We believe we're doing everything we can. We still can't guarantee against another team coming up with something really radical and completely different that ends up working." When asked what syndicates were looking dangerous five months out from the start of the Louis Vuitton challenger series, Barker replied: "All of them right now. "The stronger teams are the better-funded teams and with a lot of strong personnel and people who have been involved in Team New Zealand. Right now you've got to say Alinghi will look good, Oracle will look good, Prada will be strong, Dennis Conner, you can never count him out, and One World," the 29-year-old said. "It's important for people to understand it won't be 5-0 again. It's going to be a lot harder than ever before, we've got a battle to keep the Cup now". "Pretty much all the teams have got (former) TNZ personnel, so racing any of them will be interesting. It helps the other teams because they take information and knowledge with them which definitely gives new teams a head-start in the development process". "The design envelope is getting smaller. You have to work really hard just to make small gains now." TNZ's design team remains busy with the first 2003 generation black boat under construction, scheduled to arrive at the Viaduct Basin in Auckland in August. The second boat's design has not yet finalised. After re-testing NZL57 and NZL60 over summer, Barker said the team would take a break from sailing over winter, allowing the crew to compete in international regattas and refresh before time on the water goes full-time after the arrival of the first new boat in three-four months.
TV ONE's coverage

Rumours about Team NZ Helmsman (04/29/02)
(source : Stuff.co.nz)

Poor results on the lucrative world match-racing circuit, the Swedish Match Tour, and Barker's almost bashful dealings with the media and sponsors have fuelled speculation that he is about to be jettisoned.

Respected Frenchman Bertrand Pace, a former world match-racing and Swedish Match champion who boasts America's Cup experience dating back to the French Kiss challenge in 1987, is Team NZ's reserve helmsman and is seen as a ready-made replacement.

However, Team NZ media and communications manager Murray Taylor yesterday dismissed talk of Barker's supposed fall from grace as a "wind-up".

"That's a beauty . . . the best one I've ever heard," he said before bursting into laughter. "There's no possibility of Dean being dropped. Absolutely no way.

Ross Blackman more confident than ever (04/27/02)
(source : scuttlebutt)

Graeme Kennedy (National Business Review) did an interview with Ross Blackman, Team New Zealand's chief executive where he explained winning the America's Cup involved three major components - deciding how much money was necessary and finding it, having a program in place to design and build the fastest yacht, then sailing the boat around the course to win five races.

He said Team New Zealand was not yet fully funded but had about 90% of it's estimated $70-75 million budget in place, provided largely by the "family of five" - SAP, Telecom, Toyota, Steinlager and Lotto. "We are on track, allowing us to follow the programme we laid out from day one,"

Mr Blackman said. "We won the 1995 Cup with a budget a fraction the size of the others, so we have never been scared by the amounts of money the competition has - that's the least of our worries. We can do things less expensively in New Zealand than teams from other nations can.

"The design team that was responsible for producing NZL 60, the 2000 boat, and NZL 32, which won at San Diego, is still largely intact and assuming we are fully funded and the design team does its job we are confident Dean Barker and his crew can sail the boat around the course as fast as anyone in the world."

Team NZ to start building the boats (04/11/02)
(source : NZ Herald)

Syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg said today North Shore boatbuilders Cookson Boats had been given the first set of lines and specifications for the yacht, one of two that will be built for Team NZ.

The first boat would be completed about mid-July and then taken to Team NZ's base at the Viaduct Basin for the fitting of deck hardware and appendages. The boat would be launched in August or September, Schnackenberg said.

Schnackenberg said Team New Zealand's designers had given Cookson Boats a set of lines for building a mould for the new yacht's hull. Cookson Boats had given Team NZ a schedule for the next few months outlining when extra specifications would be needed.

The mould would be completed in two or three weeks, and Team NZ would apply for a sail number from the Cup's official measurer Ken McAlpine next month.

Schnackenberg said work would probably begin on Team NZ's second boat four to six weeks after the first one, although that timing had not been finalised.

Local sailors versus Team New Zealand (04/07/02)
(source : Stuff.co.nz)

Team New Zealand members were in Timaru on Sunday as part of a nationwide build up to the 2003 America's Cup. Local sailors from throughout New Zealand were invited to race against a crew from TNZ in a series of regional regattas.

Four 9.2m Etchell keel boats were transported to Timaru for the regatta. Two of the 1500kg yachts were in the distinctive black, and two had white hulls that promoted the sponsors of the 2003 America's Cup. Once in the water, the local crews had about one hour to familiarise themselves with the boats.

It was all smooth sailing, despite an early southerly wind threatening its cancellation. Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club commodore and race officer Les Baker said he was more than happy with how the day went.

As expected, the TNZ crew won five from five races.

Sitting in the clubrooms after his clean sweep, TNZ skipper Bertrand Pace praised the efforts of his opposition. "I think they were pretty fast, their tactics were not bad," he said.

Bertrand said TNZ were very focused on the upcoming America's Cup and were running on schedule. He said at present they were 80 per cent racing and 20 per cent testing.