OneWorld diary

Navigator Mark Chisnell on the latest from the Viaduct Basin and team building

So I've been a bit slack on the diary-writing front lately, the weather's been unusually kind to us and we've got a lot of sailing in since we all got back from our US break. Other excuses include launching my novel, The Defector (published as The Delivery in the UK) down here in New Zealand, not to mention a real humdinger of a cold, but I won't trouble you with those details...

Not that you've had any shortage of America's Cup news these last few weeks. There was our former team-mate, Ben Ainslie, putting away the Finn Europeans and the Gold Cup within six months of getting in the boat. While new IACC yachts have been arriving in Auckland on what seems like a daily basis, including Wight Magic, the second British boat. I had a coffee with Craig Nutter who flew down to Auckland with the boat, and he had a fine story to tell about the trip in the cargo plane, and the guys that fly it (which you can find on the GBR website).

Meanwhile, the action out on the Hauraki Gulf has been hotting up, with ourselves, Oracle, Alinghi, the Brits and the Swedes out most days, either racing or tuning. We had the Mascalzone Latinos over for a welcome party last Friday (they are our next door neighbours) and there are signs of life at the Prada and Stars and Stripes compounds.

Team New Zealand are sailing one of their old boats while they put the finishing touches to the first of the new ones inside the shed, and have been testing some topside covers. The boat now stops at North Head, at the entrance to the harbour, and they unroll covers down both sides, for the full length of the hull - you've all seen the skirts, but the boys in black are taking it to another level. Which just leaves the French, and I'm sure Greenpeace NZ are hopping from one foot to the other in anticipation of their arrival.

And what of Stars and Stripes little mishap with the rudder? Sinking, or nearly sinking, a boat is a serious business from which two potential Cup winners have not previously recovered. DC's timing is a little better, but much will depend on how the team collectively responds to this set-back. The extent to which they let this get to them and erode their own belief in their programme will be a test of team morale.

But team morale isn't something that just happens, it can be worked at. If I was completely honest, we've probably talked about it more that we've actually done it, but we have made an effort to do things as a team outside the daily rigours of training, sailing and boat-building.

Back in Seattle last summer a squad of the guys, including our much put-upon accountant, Scott Krahling, climbed Mount Rainier, the 14,411 foot mountain that provides the stunning backdrop for much of Seattle's cityscape. The occasionally maligned tree-planting days (yes, we finally planted the whole 10,000) have provided similar opportunities for everyone to hang-out together - including partners and kids - without the pressures of the daily routine.

But when it comes to team-building, leader of the pack is undoubtedly Andrew 'Raw Meat' Taylor - two-times winner and now on his sixth Cup, Meat never stops reminding us that when the going gets tough, you only get through it if you stick together.

So after months of planning, pretty much off his own bat but with the full support of the management (as they say), Meat took us all up to Pakiri for a little weekend away (another excuse for not writing for you). Offshore rules apply to this kind of thing ('what happens on the boat, stays on the boat') so I can't go much further than saying that the centre-piece of the weekend was the Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and New Zealand. And for those who missed it, the Aussies won with a penalty that was the last kick of the game, and most of the money that changed hands after the Crusaders won the Super 12s, reversed its flow and ended up where it started. It's also where I got the cold...

But I think it's our team spirit that has allowed us to roll through this whole Arbitration Panel business without so much as breaking stride. It must be about eight months since it started, that's eight months of having your mates on other teams asking (with a nice line in mock sincerity, Andy Green) when you're going to be thrown out, eight months of what could have been a crippling distraction.

But now it's over, and we're still here. We broke the rules, we fessed up, we got punished, and the team accepts it as a fair penalty. End of story. Let's go racing and give the journo's some sailing action to write about for a change.