Enter the men in black...
- Enter the men in black
For the past four months they have been just off stage during proceedings on the Hauraki Gulf, shadows practising, practising and practising out of sight and hearing from the potential Challengers who have all been firmly focused on winning the right to challenge for the America?s Cup.Team New Zealand and their distinctive black boats have taken secrecy to new extremes to prevent the outside world seeing what quantum leaps they have made in design, rig, sails and technique.
One thing you can be sure of, though, the Kiwis will have been working day and night to make sure that the Auld Mug stays in New Zealand.
Matthew Sheahan takes a look at this team and its central characters to see if he can find out just what makes them tick. - The return ticket
The majority of crews crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean do not think much beyond the first rum punch ? let alone the return passage to Europe. And yet this second part of the Atlantic Circuit is, in its way, far more complex than the tradewind crossing on the way out. In the second part of this Ocean Ready feature on Atlantic routeing Stokey Woodall and Andrew Bray consider the options. - Plus ? the over-60s.
Like policemen getting younger, new boats are getting bigger and the last year has seen a rash of new 60ft plus cruisers and cruiser-racers. We trial the Moody 64, Swan 62RS, X-63 and Trintella 65