LVT: (Almost) No Excuse to Lose

Emirates Team New Zealand at the Louis Vuitton Trophy, Nice. Image copyright Bob Grieser/OutsideImages.co.nz

by Chloe Daycard

As the crew that has done the most sailing time together, Dean Barker knows that anything less than victory in Nice would be a disappointment for Emirates Team New Zealand

Living on the other side of the world, and with much notice that this event was happening, it must have been quite a logistical exercise mobilising Emirates Team New Zealand to come and compete in Nice...

We're very fortunate with Emirates that they get us up here in good style, and it’s been an interesting year. We’ve done a lot of TP52 sailing throughout the year, but yes, moving the 28 people that we have here for this event is still a big logistical exercise. Fortunately we've had a lot of practice with Louis Vuitton Acts in the past at moving things around.

There is a lot of new teams here who are still getting used to each other’s company, still learning the ropes, but with Emirates Team New Zealand you don’t have that excuse. You’re here to win, right?

Yes, absolutely, we’re here to win and we have high expectations. But it's still hard, because you feel rusty, and we haven't had the ability to sail much in these boats. The last time we set foot in one was Auckland for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series earlier this year. A lot of rust does creep in and so you try to iron out as many bugs as you can in the practice time that you have available. We've been a bit short of that practice time though.

In the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, two of those boats were your own, and the other two were provided by BMW Oracle Racing. Here you're sailing boats that you don't know very well at all, so how much does that change the game?

It is different because the boats are not the same, but within reason the characteristics of the boat are still the same. It's about understanding the appendages and how the boats will react. Putting the boats on a shorter course also has quite an effect, the speed is less important and it's more like general match racing. Provided you understand what you've got, and you know your limitations and you’re not getting too clever, you can figure out how to sail a different boat reasonably quickly.

Do you feel like a team yet?

It’s always good to sail with the guys and we've been very fortunate to race in the TP52, where we’ve been getting most of the guys together. It's not quite the same but there are a lot of similarities and that helps us acclimatise to the sailing here in the AC boats more quickly.

As well as winning, what other objectives do you have for the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice?

For me this year the focus has been on fleet racing, so I’m looking to get back into the swing of things with match racing as quickly as possible. I've got a lot of confidence in the afterguard that we'll switch that back on pretty well. But it does take time and we've got to eliminate the silly mistakes.

Louis Vuitton Trophy