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Team NZ makes crew change for race Posted: Wednesday February 19, 2003 7:04 PMAUCKLAND (Reuters) -- America's Cup holders Team New Zealand changed their afterguard for the fourth race of their faltering Cup defense on Thursday, replacing tactician Hamish Pepper with Frenchman Bertrand Pace. Swiss challengers Alinghi lead Team New Zealand 3-0 in the best-of-nine series. Two tactical errors cost Team New Zealand badly in races two and three while the Cup holders were forced to withdraw from the opening race with a series of gear breakages. "It's just a rotation off the bench, if you like," Team New Zealand head Tom Schnackenberg told local television. "We have considered other changes but the team's been sailing very well," he said. New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said after Tuesday's third race that he did not think crew changes were needed but said he would step aside if the team decided it was the best way to beat biotechnology heir Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi. Barker admitted then that there had been confusion on the boat just before the start of race three over the significance of data coming from their weather team about a forecast wind change. Alinghi took advantage of the wind change to win the race. "The whole system broke down a little bit," Schnackenberg said. Alinghi are led by former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth, who are unbeaten in America's Cup match races and joined the Swiss after the 2000 Cup. Pace is sailing in his fifth America's Cup campaign and has been with Team New Zealand since their successful 2000 defense. An aggressive sailor and former world match racing champion, 41-year-old Pace has been helmsman on New Zealand's back-up boat. While France have launched many Cup challenges, Pace will become the first Frenchman to sail in an America's Cup match race when the race begins at 1.15 p.m. (0015 GMT).
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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