Quietly confident

From Auckland Ed Gorman reports on the positive atmosphere within Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge

If there are problems, they are usually related to the overall scale of the project. For example the syndicate could do with more people on the shore side to help offset the workload before and after sailing - a jobs list which is leading to long and exhausting days. Another point often made is that working with only one travel lift in a fairly small space adds a lot of time to the hauling and launching process at the beginning and end of each day. However, team members readily accept that in a relatively modest campaign there are limits to expenditure.

Something else you notice since Cowes is the increasing pre-occupation with the new boat. It is perhaps inevitable that the more work the sailing team puts in on the water, the more their hopes and fears for the new boat will come to the surface. The way Walker puts it, it is not just a simple case of 'is it a rocket-ship or is it a dog?'. In his view the team is taking on a complete package; a hull, a rig, appendages and sails and the challenge for the team will be to get the most out of what they are given.

Barnes is strikingly optimistic about it. "I think it is a fantastic effort the design team has delivered and what they've learned and what they've come up with," he said. Initially, Barnes was not even sure that this was the right time for Britain to come back to the Cup, but he has gone from talking his hopes right down to speaking openly and confidently about making the Louis Vuitton top-four - that's a semi-final place.

In fact across the team you hear people using the same phrases about how the GBR Challenge is going to "knock-off some of the big boys" or "rattle a few of their cages." The ambition then is not just to beat the other smaller syndicates - the Swedes, Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes, the French and Illbruck for example - but also to claim a scalp among the big-spending outfits like Prada, Oracle, OneWorld and Alinghi.

The next yardstick by which they and everyone else can judge whether these aims are realistic is the upcoming Road to the America's Cup Regatta in February when the Brits take on the Swedes, Oracle and Team New Zealand in the 2000 generation boats.

One concern looking in from the outside at least, is the generally poor performance of GBR Challenge crews on the world match racing circuit over the last 12 months when they have usually struggled to finish in the top-half of the field. Again Barnes is not worried, arguing that match racing in a 30-footer, for example, has very little to do with racing an America's Cup Class. But against that, the top sailors should be able to win in anything.

It is hard to judge progress or lack of it in this critical area. However there was no doubt that the GBR Challenge's race practice on the water seemed to have plenty of bite about it with Andy Beadsworth and an afterguard including Chris Main and Derek Clark on GBR44 giving it their all against Walker, Ado Stead and Jules Salter on GBR52 and getting the better of them on the day I was with them. On the previous day the pre-start practice included a collision which required all-night repairs by the over-pressed shore team. But as Team New Zealand showed us in the last Cup cycle, there is no point in practising if you don't do it like you mean it.

For a photo of the full crew in Auckland see page 3...