No Kiwi Coup, says Burling

In the last week, America’s Cup rumours have been rife on social media that 24-year-old Peter Burling has replaced long-standing skipper Dean Barker as the helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand. But in an interview with Boating NZ, a week before the sensational claims were dragged through mass media, Burling said the team is a long way from naming a helmsman.

Burling says that whoever can best master the AC62 will have the honour of steering, and that he has a lot of work to do if he is to steer the ETNZ boat in Bermuda in June of 2017.

When asked if he thought, given the opportunity, he would be ready to drive the boat in 2017, he replied, “Yeah, definitely. I think the main thing is that the best guy at driving the boat is going to drive it. At the moment there are no pre-agendas about that. Whoever they think is going to get it around the course better is going to drive. For myself, obviously I have got to improve a fair bit between now and then, and everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. I have got to make sure that I will be ready.”

Burling may well drive the boat in the regatta, but the claims that Barker has already been given the chop, more than two years out from the event, are hard to believe. – Full story