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Grant Dalton, Team New Zealand - Source: Chris Cameron -
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Team New Zealand yachting boss Grant Dalton is hoping the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, dubbed "the Friendly Games", will help to heal some America's Cup wounds.
The two-week match-racing regatta begins off Auckland on Friday in America's Cup boats supplied by hosts Team NZ and by American syndicate Oracle from their 2007 campaigns in Valencia.
Among the 10 syndicates represented are cup holders Alinghi, who are embroiled in a long-running court battle with Oracle.
The reason the Pacific Series was created was to get the sailors back out on the water while the America's Cup remained in limbo.
Both Alinghi and Oracle's skippers, New Zealanders Brad Butterworth and Russell Coutts respectively, will be sailing in the event.
Dalton said on Wednesday that he "couldn't be more happy" with how the series had taken shape in such a short time and during a worldwide economic downturn.
Friendly Games
"We've dubbed it the Friendly Games," he added.
"We hope it stays that way. One knows the undercurrents that exist within the sport at the moment at this level."
Asked if he felt the series might soothe some of the acrimony that has enveloped the America's Cup, Dalton said Team NZ were hopeful it would.
"We hope it has some sort of healing process," he said.
"There was a moment on the very first day when we started training and we were sailing against Russell.
"I looked across and it was cool to be on the water again sailing in these boats and that, and just thinking, `Why did it need to get to this? Let the sailors sort it out'."
Chance to re-engage
Dalton said the series would also be a chance for Team NZ to re-engage with the New Zealand public because there was no doubt that the image of the America's Cup had been damaged.
He expected local interest to build slowly, but he could see the "village" area near the Team NZ compound in the downtown Viaduct Harbour being filled with fans by the second weekend.
The format for the series is two round-robins followed by a sail-off to determine the crew that will race off against Team NZ in the final.
Team NZ will take part in the first round-robin, but without scoring any points, and they have been drawn in the same pool as Oracle, K-Challenge (France), Damiani Italia and China Team.
The other pool comprises Alinghi, Greek Challenge, Team Origin (Britain), Team Shosholoza (South Africa) and Luna Rossa (Italy).
Racing would be in courses of about 1.5 nautical miles, about half the length of an America's Cup course.
Because each pair of boats in a race will be identical, the event will be different from an America's Cup regatta, where yacht design and technology play a huge part in the search for a speed edge.
Team NZ skipper Dean Barker said the series would put a premium on sailing ability.
"The challenge is on the sailors to start well, to have good strategy and to have the crew work to back it up so we get around the corners and tight spaces," he said.
"The races will probably be only 40 to 50 minutes, so it will be quite a different concept to what we've seen with these boats in the past.
"It definitely puts a lot of pressure on the sailing team to perform, because you have evenly matched boats."
