'A few bad moments': The lessons Team NZ learned ahead of Naples regatta

A few bad moments, a few lessons learned.

For Emirates Team New Zealand, it didn’t take much for their campaign in the first America’s Cup preliminary regatta in Cagliari in late May to unravel.

The senior team representing the defender of the Auld Mug qualified for the event final, raced on the smaller, one-design AC40s, before a mistake in the pre-start saw the Peter Burling-led Luna Rossa crew claim the win.

As they head into this weekend’s second preliminary regatta in Naples – the same venue that will host the main America’s Cup regatta in less than a year – they do so embracing another opportunity to grow and learn.

“I think, on the whole, we raced pretty well,” port helmsman Seb Menzies said of the Cagliari regatta. “We had a few bad moments, one of them being in the final, which obviously made the last race a pretty non-event.

“There was a lot that we took from it in communication and how we raced the boat. This time will be interesting because we are racing on the racecourse, so there’s a lot more that we can take from the event as well, which will be cool.”

It has been a campaign full of learning for Menzies, with the 21-year-old filling the void left by Burling at the defenders’ helm.

The team enter the regatta in Naples fresh off an AC75 training block in Auckland, where progress and development towards the main event next year is the prime objective. It’s a crucial area of the America’s Cup, and one that is a whole new world to Menzies.

Seb Menzies (centre) is co-helm for the Emirates Team New Zealand America's Cup defence. Photo / America's Cup

“There’s a lot of involvement in development from all of the sailing team. No matter what the role, you get involved with it,” he said.

“It’s been really eye-opening for me to see how the team goes about all the development. It’s hard for me to put my two cents in when there are people that have been doing it for so long, but I guess at the moment it’s just taking all the learning from it so that in the future I have grown more.”

Menzies will again take the port helm of the AC40 for the senior crew in Naples this week, with skipper Nathan Outteridge on starboard helm, while Andy Maloney and Iain Jensen man the trimming roles, with Chris Draper as a reserve sailor. In Team New Zealand’s Youth and Women’s crew, Erica Dawson and skipper Jake Pye will again helm, with Josh Armit and Serena Woodall trimming, and Lena Sanderson as the reserve.

They will be two of the nine boats on the water for fleet racing, with British entry GB1 and Italy’s Luna Rossa also entering two crews, while Tudor Team Alinghi (Switzerland), La Roche Posay Racing Team (France) and ARC Team USA are all entering a team each.

It will be the first time this cycle that the new American outfit has raced, while fellow late entrants Team Australia are yet to make their campaign debut on the water.

Seb Menzies will be the port helm for Emirates Team New Zealand in Naples this weekend. Photo / America's Cup

While gathering data and continuing to build towards the main event next year, Menzies was clear that this weekend’s result was important.

“I mean, in terms of a result we would always want to win, but then I think there’s another level to that and it’s taking as much as we can from the event, especially considering we’re on the race venue and coming with better understanding of the racecourse for next year.

“It’ll be quite a fun next, sort of, six to eight months until we get into proper racing, seeing how all the other teams develop as well. It’s quite cool just across from where we are right now [in Naples], there’s the team bases where we’ll all be next year, and they’re all right next to each other. I think it’s going to become quite a cool atmosphere quite quickly.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.