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Emirates Team New Zealand update
Emirates Team New Zealand update: Team takes on the A Class worlds
February 5 2014
A strong Emirates Team New Zealand connection will be evident when the World A Class Catamaran championships is raced off Takapuna Beach, Auckland.
The worlds, which start next Monday, will be preceded by the New Zealand Nationals which start tomorrow.
Eight of the 79 international entries are:
• Ray Davies and Glenn Ashby from the Emirates Team
New Zealand 2013 America’s Cup sailing
team.
•
• Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, fresh
from victory in their 49er at the Sail Auckland regatta, and
recent recruits to the sailing squad.
•
• 2013
America’s Cup design team members Pete Melvin, Luc Dubois
and Nat Shaver.
•
• Chris Nicholson, skipper of
the team’s CAMPER entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, is a late
entry. He will race in Dean Barker’s cat which became
available when Dean withdrew from the worlds to concentrate
on the team’s preparation for the Extreme Sailing Series
which starts later this month
•
There’s a mix of
A Class experience here. Glenn Ashby has won the Australian
A Class champs 10 times and has won the worlds seven times.
He trimmed the wing on the AC72 in San Francisco and
recently won the Australian A class title.
Ray Davies, tactician on the AC72, admits to have taken his A Class for a sail “just a few times”. d
Chris Nicholson arrived in Auckland only yesterday and confesses to having never sailed an A Class. But as he says, “I know how to trapeze and I can steer so that should get me around the track.”
The designers are all experienced campaigners and highly rated.
At stake over the next week will be team bragging rights, with Burling and Tuke hoping to show their new team mates how it’s done.
Three races a day are scheduled for the New Zealand Nationals which finish on Saturday.
The worlds start with a practice race on Monday, February 11. Two races a day are scheduled through to Saturday and one on the final day, Sunday.
warren.douglas@emiratesteamnz.com
ends
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