All five America’s Cup teams training in Bermuda have wrapped up the first of six “practice racing periods” allowed under the latest changes to the 2017 America’s Cup protocol.

The protocol changes were approved March 16 by the defender, Oracle Team USA and signed by the four challengers in Bermuda.

The amendment was not signed by Team New Zealand who are still practising in isolation in New Zealand.

In multiple races yesterday the cream of the crop still appears to be Oracle Team USA. In the second match of the day, they took the leeward end of the line, led Land Rover BAR around the turning mark and never looked back.

Oracle are showing excellent straight-line speed and are almost flawless in keeping their boat speed up through foiling tacks and gybes.

Oracle, the defender, and challengers Land rover BAR and Artemis Racing had raced last Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and yesterday. On the final days SoftBank Team Japan and Groupama Team France joined in for their first competitive trials.

Team Japan showed impressive speed in their race against France. They took the leeward end of the starting line for the port tack reach to the midcourse turning mark and headed down wind with a lead of five to seven boat lengths. Japan opened their lead on all legs of the windward-leeward America’s Cup course.

Japan also showed good speed in their race against Artemis, but allowed the Swedish team to take the lead after an apparent gear failure.

All of the teams have only been sailing their AC Class boats for a couple of weeks and all are sure to have some issues with the complicated hydraulic systems used to control sail shape and daggerboard positions.

Team France struggled the most with losses to both Japan and Oracle.

They were off in timing the start in their race with Oracle, with the United States team slowed down on the first leg to give them a chance to make a race of it. Oracle were briefly behind but retook the lead and kept it until the end.

The next two Racing Periods will be from April 6 to 7 and 10 to 12. New Zealand will be in route to Bermuda on April 11 in the belly of an Emirates 747. No one is certain that Team New Zealand will participate in competitive training when they arrive. Although there is an uproar in the Kiwi media and other international press about the protocol changes, the teams are bound by agreement to abstain from critical comment.

A Team New Zealand spokesman told The Royal Gazette: “We are just keeping our heads down, concentrating intently on getting as much as we possibly can from our testing back here before our departure.”

Some of the latest photos of Team New Zealand taken by Richard Gladwell show that two pedal-power trimmers are staying on each side, each locked into their pedals and ready to grind, probably able to provide power together for one control task or multiple tasks from both sides.

This may be smart thinking. These boats are not like traditional catamarans, which need human ballast on racks and trapeze cables to keep them flat and fast. These cats sail flat in straight line (one foil in the water) and when they do a foiling tack or gybe the deck stays almost level (two foils down) through the turn. Moving crew across the tramps is unnecessary, dangerous and probably a waste of energy. Staying locked in keeps things balanced side to side.

In addition, another Richard Gladwell photo of the Kiwi cockpit shows that since the grinders now have their hands free, they have controls ... some buttons and even a joy stick for who knows what ... Maybe they are watching video games while they ride?

Are these Kiwis on the edge, or out of the box?

According to a video interview by Yachting Sir Russell Coutts, America’s Cup Event Authority boss, gives a nod to Team New Zealand’s surprise move to replace arm grinders with pedal power on their AC Class yacht.

“There has always been innovation in the Cup and you’ve got to say that Emirates Team New Zealand has been one of the more creative teams over the years in terms of their culture of developing new thinking, new technology,” Coutts said.

“I think it will be an advantage when they get locked into a straight line, but of course it’s probably much quicker to cross the boat and immediately lock into the conventional grinder with your hands.”

For the pedal grinders to be effective you really have to lock both feet in so you have the capability to push and pull at the same time.

“It’s just a matter of whether they can develop systems to get to that situation rapidly because obviously one of the most important times to grind is during the manoeuvres.”

The Kiwi’s seem to have solved that problem by developing a system of ‘not moving.’ With two peddlers remaining in a fixed position, locked and loaded, they will be ready and able to deliver continuous power to control sails, trim systems and daggerboard positions. The grinders will have hands free to work controls and will be available for instant power in the gybes and tacks.

There are probably many more innovations to come. Stay tuned. Qualifying Rounds start in 60 days.