Heading down under

In this brief interview Andy Hemmings talks to thedailysail about his move to join Team New Zealand

Precious few British sailors have had much experience of recent America's Cup campaigns outside of GBR Challenge. However one that has is match racer Andy Hemmings who for the last two America's Cups was trimmer with the Prada team.

With the demise of the Italian challenger - temporary as it turned out, before they were reborn as Luna Rossa - Hemmings returned to the UK for around 10 months to join up with GBR Challenge before being poached by Grant Dalton to join the new squad of hot shots at Emirates Team New Zealand.

"There were a variety of reasons, a lot of which I won’t go into. It’s just that for my personal reasons it suited me a lot better when the offer from Team New Zealand came through," says Hemmings, ever the diplomat, when asked why he jumped ship.

As with Ben Ainslie, the deal between the Kiwi team and Hemmings was done some months prior to being announced and was subject to Dalton securing a sponsorship deal for the team. This, remarkably, Dalton achieved when Emirates came on board and this week Hemmings finds himself for the first time clad in the grey and red gear of a fully fledged crew member on the Kiwi boat.

"I have to admit that the biggest sway for me was the quality of the people they had and were getting involved," says Hemmings of his new colleagues. On board he is once again a trimmer. "I seem to be stuck firmly in the middle of the boat!" he adds.

If GBR Challenge had had a sponsor six months ago would he have stuck with them? "Probably yes. It was never easy, but it would have helped make my decision. Don’t get me wrong. I have parted on very good terms with GBR and I firmly believe they will get the money - it is not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’."

Hemmings will continue with Emirates Team New Zealand through the next Acts in Valencia in October before heading back down to New Zealand to begin training.

This week on the Kiwi boat they have a raft of talent in the crew today's line up comprising: Dean Barker, Rod Davis, Kelvin Harrap, Kevin Hall, Don Cowie, Adam Beashell, Grant Loretz, Andy Hemmings, Rob Waddell, Jono McBeth, Chris Ward, Tony Rae, Jared Henderson, Mathew Mason, Richard Meacham, Jero Lomas, Grant Dalton, Kevin Shoebridge and Nick Heron.

A name missing from the list is that of Ben Ainslie who will not be joining the team until Valencia, even though fellow Finn Olympian Kevin Hall, is already on board. "You can physically do it…but if I was doing the Games I wouldn’t want to leap out of it and go straight into the competition," says Hemmings.

So how come he isn't part of the Luna Rossa team? "I have hooked up with Francesco de Angelis recently as I hadn’t seen him since the last Cup. They have made some significant changes there. They have employed considerably more foreigners than I thought they were going to...Spithill and half of One World. They said they wanted to strengthen certain areas and I guess that’s what they have done."

Hemmings goes full time with Emirates Team New Zealand from late November. "I’m looking forward to going back to New Zealand. We did spend a fair amount of time there over the last Cup and it is a lovely place," says Hemmings.

Aside from his America's Cup sailing, Hemmings has spent this season competing on the intense Spanish IMS scene as a regular crew on board John Cook's Cristabella, the only British boat active on this circuit. "That is a pretty full on program. It has been pretty much every weekend in Spain during June and July. It helps having the King and the royal family sailing out there."