BBC SPORT | Other Sports | Sailing | Americas Cup

BBC Sport Online brings you all the latest news from the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Team New Zealand have taken out their second yacht for its maiden sail in Auckland.

Light winds on Thursday enabled the NZL-82 to be eased into the Hauraki Gulf, with Frenchman Bertrand Pace taking the helm.

Syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg told the America's Cup official website: "That was a nice little milestone to go past.

"We probably would have prefeerred a little more breeze but we do treat the new boat pretty gently on its first sail."

GBR speculation

Meanwhile, people at dockside are still speculating whether or not GBR Challenge's second boat - GBR 78 - will ever get a competitive run.

GBR make it four in a row

General manager David Barnes suggests it might.

It could bring you the America's Cup, but unless you manage to extract that potential, it probably won't

David Barnes
GBR Challenge

Wight Magic will be tested again this Thursday, GBR's scheduled lay day in the second round robin, to see if re-location of her keel has cured the boat's balance problems.

"We realised that we'd never see her full potential unless she was re-configured," said Barnes.

GBR 78 has a radical keel design that may produce a lot of speed for the British bid.

"The concept's got enormous potential; it's one of those things that could be a trump card," said Barnes.

"It could bring you the America's Cup, but unless you manage to extract that potential, it probably won't."

Defi hopes

Le Defi Areva are pinning their hopes of America's Cup survival on a few minor changes to their boat.

The French team finished last - with no wins - in the first round robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup

But, instead of proceeding with a radical overhaul of their yacht, team bosses are going to keep faith in their yacht, opting only for "evolutionary, not revolutionary" alterations.

Le Defi said the modifications had focused on improving downwind speed.

"There will be some visible differences between round-robin two and round-robin one," said skipper Luc Pillot.

"We have shored up our assets and will be a lot stronger downwind this time around.

Swedish change

Sweden's Victory Challenge could be the only syndicate to change yachts for the second round of the Louis Vuitton challenger series.

The Swedes are set to use their second yacht SWE73 (Orm) for the round which starts on Wednesday.

Sweden used their first yacht SWE63 (Orn) to finish seventh in round one with three wins and five losses.

Injury blow

A Victory Challenge crew member was injured when he fell through an open hatch during a training sail on the Hauraki Gulf.

Mid-bowman Martin Krite suffered back injuries and was rushed to the team base and taken by ambulance to an Auckland hospital, where he was held for several hours for precautionary treatment.

Solo mission

The pace of life has slowed at Auckland Harbour since the first round of the America's Cup challenger series came to an end.

Most teams have opted for rest after a gruelling schedule.

But Team Dennis Conner are already fine-tuning for the second round-robin, which is due to start on 22 September.

We were just glad to have the Hauraki Gulf to ourselves

Ken Read
Team Dennis Connor

The syndicate's preparation for the Louis Vuitton Cup was set back when the second of their two yachts, USA-77, sank off Long Beach in July.

And helmsman Ken Read said on Wednesday that the New York-based outfit were looking to improve after winning only half of their races so far.

"We're making up for lost time. This testing falls within our gameplan for what we want to accomplish before the next round.

"Weather windows here are critical and yesterday was the best testing day we've had - eight to 14 knots, flat water and no shifts.

"We were just glad to have the Hauraki Gulf to ourselves to take advantage of it."

Swiss speed

Alinghi skipper Russell Couts has laid down the gauntlet to the rest of the Louis Vuitton Cup field by declaring that his team can go quicker.

The Swiss team won seven of their eight races in the first round-robin stage, losing only to American challengers One World.

The second round robin will be a lot tougher - some of the teams are planning major changes, but we aren't

Russell Coutts
Alinghi skipper

But Coutts, who skippered Team New Zealand to victory in the last America's Cup, said he was happy with Alinghi's efforts so far.

"We haven't put our top 16 on the boat yet.

"The second round robin will be a lot tougher - some of the teams are planning major changes, but we aren't at this stage.

"We feel we are near the top of our group, but to stay there we have to work very hard. OneWorld are out front, so we need to figure out a way of closing the gap."