BMW Oracle and Emirates Team NZ train on the kiwi boats

Emirates Team New Zealand and BMW Oracle Racing held a series of practice races aboard NZL-82 and NZL-94 on the Waitemata on Wednesday. The kiwi team, skippered by Dean Barker, and the American, skippered by Russell Coutts, carried out a number of prestarts and some full races, in their third day of training.

Given the system to be used for boat allocation every day, all teams need to get good knowledge of the four boats before actual racing starts in 10 days. Every morning a draw will decide what team races on what boat and as a result, every single hour spent on the water training is precious, especially given the fact that the official training period starts on Saturday, and then again, it will be limited to 2 hours a day per team.

BMW Oracle and Emirates Team NZ train on NZL-84 and NZL-92. Auckland, 21 January 2009. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle

BMW Oracle and Emirates Team NZ train on NZL-84 and NZL-92. Auckland, 21 January 2009. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle

BMW Oracle and Emirates Team NZ train on NZL-84 and NZL-92. Auckland, 21 January 2009. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / BMW Oracle